Today, 5 Q’anil invites us to tend what we’ve planted with focused effort and discipline, trust in the process of slow ripening, and recognize that maturity comes from consistent care and attention to what we’re growing.
Essential Questions
- What in my life is ripening right now?
- Where am I being called to invest focused effort and discipline?
- What fruit will my work bear when the time is right?
Thinking through the long-term effects of our actions requires mindfulness and maturity. I am trying to help my teenage daughter develop this essential life skill. And I feel like I am utterly failing at the moment.
A week ago, she made the executive decision to buy a baby chick as a pet one day after school. It cost Q11 (less than $2). We talked about having her take it back to the pet store the next day but unfortunately decided against that.
The chick is living in our house, sleeping in my daughter’s bed at night, and, naturally, pooping everywhere. Amazingly, our three dogs and two cats have given her a wide berth. There is a half-finished chicken coop in our yard from an abandoned COVID project that my partner could theoretically finish, though she’s still too small to sleep outside in the cold at night.
I am begging my daughter to try to return the little feather ball to the pet store, even to pay them to take her back. I am at a loss and so frustrated. Her poor, impulsive decision and my allowing it has led to a family dilemma and it’s triggering me in unexpected ways.
5 Q’anil teaches that maturity doesn’t come from avoiding mistakes, but rather from tending to them with patience and presence. The work is in what we do after a decision is made to change an untenable situation.
Maltiox, Nawal Q’anil.
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