The Art and the Craft

The light seldom comes on all at once. We usually “get it” gradually. We expect to go from dark to light immediately, but it’s more like sunrise.

Healing is gradual. We don’t get well overnight. Change is gradual. We don’t break self-destructive habits overnight. As Chicago sang: “Good things in life take a long time.”

There are seasons in our life however hard we fight against them. Seasons of joy and sadness. Seasons of realism and denial. Seasons of intimacy and loneliness. Seasons of hope and despair.

Winter finally gives way to spring; and spring surrenders to summer. It can’t be rushed no matter what or who you know.

In Jerzy Kosinski’s book Being There, Chance the Gardener is on a talk show and says to the host: “In a garden things grow…but first, they must wither; trees have to lose their leaves in order to put forth new leaves, and to grow thicker and stronger and taller. Some trees die, but fresh saplings replace them. Gardens need a lot of care. But if you love your garden, you don’t mind working in it, and waiting. Then in the proper season you will surely see it flourish” (page 67).

This is the art of letting things happen. This is the craft of making things work.