Things Take Time

This past weekend I enjoyed a much-anticipated taste of deeper community and belonging here in Williamson County, Tenn. We went to two outdoor parties that took place in ridiculously mammoth backyards, the glorious sunshine a constant companion along with a gentle breeze. We laughed and got acquainted with dozens of people. In addition, we visited the downtown United Methodist Church for the fist time and found an immediate connection with a small group of peers, and wrapped the weekend up with a visit to Nashville's famous Bluebird Cafe and an evening of life music from emerging songwriters.

It has been just shy of six months since I left my health care position in Central Florida to move here. I feel I have just scratched the social, professional and spiritual potential that is latent in this community.

As I look back at past moves I have made that involved significant change, I can see how my late father's simple, constant advice always played out "Things Take Time." It takes time to master a new job, make true friends, effectively network for professional opportunities and enrichment, find a church that is a good fit, and so forth. Usually in the birthing process of large-scale change I am impatient and mourning, questioning whether I should have exited my previous "life." Once I taste the healthy fruits of the change, I smile at myself for having fallen into that same second-guessing pattern.

Of course, it is hard to know what is best. We live in a world teeming with choices. What is the best place to live, the best profession...who is the best life partner, the best potential friend? No one has the talent to fully know, and the implication of the idea of a "best" is dubious at, well, best! Best is relevant, and it is...best not to even use the term. So I will stop saying it, and defer to something like "what are the most enriching choices I can make" during this particular season of my life?

Whatever they happen to be, it will be awhile before their richness and value come full flower. Singer-songwriter Nichole Nordeman reflects that "Time brings change, and change takes time." Things take time.