LETTING YOURSELF GROW IN LIFE

Massive jack fruit - “Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow-ripening fruit.”

Did you know that the gestation period for an elephant is 22 months? And then, she will give birth to a bundle of joy that weighs 150-250 pounds. If you're pregnant and sick of feeling like an elephant, at you aren't one.

Growth takes time. That is true of humans as well as elephants. I attended a parent-teacher conference for my second-grade son. We sat in the children's chairs. They were about two feet tall and certainly not made for adults. Those chairs were designed for little people. Growth is a slow process, but as we grow up, we outgrow the little chairs.

We grow physically and we grow in other ways, too. We grow in our roles and relationships. I occasionally asked my adolescent kids, "How do you think you're doing raising your parents?" I understood I would become a better parent as I grew into that role.

Sometimes growth in parenting involves the understanding that we don't know as much as we thought we did. Before my wife and I had children we taught parenting classes. We knew all of the fundamentals of raising happy and well-behaved children. Now, after raising my own children, I am sometimes asked about parenting issues. This often occurs when I am teaching a class on a different topic. My response these days is to turn to the group and ask, "Does anyone here have any suggestions? "

As I've grown older, I have come to see more clearly just how much more I need to grow. I realize that simple answers do not fit every situation ...or every child. I am throwing out the easy answers and learning to assess every parenting issue individually. I try to learn from my failures, to trust my instincts and to respond more often from my best self.

I have come a long way, but have a long way yet to grow. And that is true of every area of my life.

If you're not yet the person you want to be, can you be patient as you grow? It takes the elephant 22 months to give birth. Even the mightiest tree begins as a frail seed.

Be patient. You can go through life or you can grow through life.

From Lifesupport.

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