When the Orchid Blooms

Patience is a virtue. It’s a fruit of the Spirit, according to Galatians 5:22. Yet our human nature doesn’t want to wait.

“How’s that book coming along? Is it published yet?” If I hear that question one more time, I might scream. I know my friends and family who ask are truly interested and want to support my writing. But the question reminds me of how impatient I am with myself about not having finished and published it yet.

I’m ready to be done with the memoir so I can move onto the next project. God’s on a different timeline, much like the timeline of the orchid.

Several years ago, one of my staff gave me an orchid for Boss’s Day. The beautiful blooms lasted almost five months. I have since re-potted it twice and enjoyed new blooms both times.

To enjoy orchid blooms, you have to be patient.

This is what my orchid looked like on October 30, 2017.

The tiny flower shoot offered a promise of beauty to come. Perhaps they would arrive in time to provide festive color for the Christmas season.

Or perhaps not. Orchids do not bloom that quickly.

Each week I gave my plain green orchid several ice cubes to keep the soil and roots moist. And I waited, knowing I was not the one in control of this orchid’s timeline.

On January 31, 2018—a full three months later—six buds hung poised to bloom. I took this picture with plans to add some text and use it for a post on patience. I fully expected to have to wait another week or two to see the lovely purple blooms.

I sat in my office, thinking of all the things in my life that seem to be taking forever to come to fruition. Not just my memoir, but work projects, my own spiritual maturity, and more.

I gazed at these orchid buds and pondered how God used them to reveal a lesson in patience. The best things, the lasting things, take time. I knew that once my orchid finally bloomed, it would provide me with months of seemingly unending beauty. It is a lasting flower worth waiting for.

I sighed as I packed up to go home, glancing back at the closed buds as I walked out the door.

Imagine my surprise when I arrived at work on February 1 to find this!

God’s timing is perfect. That’s why patience, even in someone as impatient as me, is possible.

Why do I worry about when my book will be published? He already knows and has a plan for it to last and make in impact for His kingdom. Impatience and worry accomplish nothing.

What are you waiting for today that seems like it will never happen? Have you been impatiently worrying that it’s too late and you’ll never see your hopes and dreams fulfilled? Have faith, my friend, to wait for the orchid to bloom. It will happen when you least expect it.