Can You Make an Ox in 2 Days?

“Life on the farm is a school of patience;

You can't hurry the crops or make an ox in two days.”

- Henri Alain-Fournier (1886-1914)

It’s those days between Christmas and New Years so it must be time for wild declarations of intent, right?!?

Not me.

We can make life decisions anytime. We should. When our beings become open to new opportunities, we should stand up and embrace them wholeheartedly. In the meantime, we have to remember the underlying message behind Mr. Alain-Fournier’s words. He lived an extremely short life (he died during his military service in WWI) but he understood that good things take time.

Mr. Alain-Fournier crammed a bunch into his 27 years. He was a writer, critic and ended up a soldier. He lived and loved. Some of what he thought has been saved for us to read today, over 100 years after his life was cut short on a battlefield in France.

My point?

We don’t know how long we have and we don’t know where the road will lead. To worry and compare what we have (or what we are) to what we think we should is a waste. If we live with intention every day, new opportunities and bounties will arise...in their own time.

Enjoy the crops of your life and share their bounty as they come to you. They will slip away whether you do so or not.