Life At a Natural Pace: My Contemplation of Verse 29 of the Tao Te Ching

Dr. Dyer's book is Change your Thoughts--Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao.

Today, I delve into verse 29 of the Tao Te Ching, especially these portions:

Allow your life to unfold naturally.

Know that it too is a vessel of perfection.

Just as you breathe in and breathe out,

there is a time for being ahead

and a time for being behind;

a time for being in motion 

and a time for being at rest;

a time for being vigorous

and a time for being exhausted;

a time for being safe

and a time for being in danger.

A few days ago, I embarked on a diet.  Well, I won't go into too many details about it, except to say that a natural process happened.  I was anxious to make a process go faster, but I had to be patient.  I learned that you cannot rush anything.  I learned that I have to let life go at a natural pace.

When I read this particular verse of the Tao Te Ching, the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible came to mind.  Chapter 3, verses 1-8, are very similar:

1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2 A time to be born , and a time to die ; a time to plant , and a time to pluck up that which is  planted ; 3 A time to kill , and a time to heal ; a time to break down , and a time to build up ; 4 A time to weep , and a time to laugh ; a time to mourn , and a time to dance ; 5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together ; a time to embrace , and a time to refrain from embracing ; 6 A time to get , and a time to lose ; a time to keep , and a time to cast away ; 7 A time to rend , and a time to sew ; a time to keep silence , and a time to speak ; 8 A time to love , and a time to hate ; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Listen to the words in these two sets of words, whether from the Tao Te Ching or the Bible.  You will see that the word, "TIME," is in both.  It means to me that just like we have and want good times, we must also ride the bad or challenging times.  Life is not always pleasant.  I learned that on Monday.  

When trying to get healthier, we must go through the ugly side.  Getting to the good side of health takes time.  Doing unpleasant exercises or diets is not fun.  Often, we would rather have shortcuts; however, we must practice patience.  Oh, and I'm gonna be honest: I am not always patient!

Some medical advice tells of a die off period when a person is healing.  This happens when an infection is clearing up, for example.  The pain is excruciating at the beginning.  Believe me; I know!  The relief does come, though, after the passage of time.

The next time we want a positive outcome to a given situation, we must remember that there is a time for everything.  Sometimes, we mourn.  Sometimes, we celebrate.  Sometimes, we suffer.  Sometimes, we prosper.

Thanks for reading today's post.  

I appreciate it.

How about it, my friends?  Are you allowing nature to takes it course in your life?  Are you patiently awaiting the good things in life?  Or are you trying to rush things along?  I pray we wait on God for the good things.  Let's be patient when the trying times occur.

May God bless you, my beloveds, with His wisdom and peace, in Jesus' name.  Amen!

This has been an entry for Wisdom Wednesdays.

I am currently drawing inspiration from Dr. Wayne W. Dyer's book and the 81 verses of the Chinese wisdom book the Tao Te Ching.