Time is a funny thing.

It’s something we have absolutely no control over, and yet we’re often trying in vain to slow it down and make special moments last.

Or we’re trying to speed it up to get to the next best thing, the next milestone — the next big event (which, inevitably, we’ll want to try to slow down again for).

Time will forever plug along at its own pace and, while we can plan for the trip, we’re along for the ride.

Do you ever have that feeling deep down inside of wanting so desperately to do or achieve something that you can practically taste it? You feel it’s right around the corner. You’re approaching it, but there still seems to be that infinite amount of distance yet to travel. Your heart is aching to pump harder, as though doing so will bring your dreams to fruition through its determination and rhythmic vigor.

I love this feeling. It prods me to keep on keeping on until I get there; to work through the struggles. It tells me to bust through the shell with the tiny hairline crack, as though it’s my own personal passageway just waiting to be traveled down.

But I’m also a big fan of patience. Apparently so are others, since there are a lot of formulas that patience has made its way into over time.

“Power plus patience equals great hitting,” for you baseball fans out there.

“Patience plus fun equals success,” it’s been said of teaching kindergartners.

And here’s one more:

“Preparation plus patience equals peace.” That one’s from me. I don’t know if it’s been said before, and while I’m sure there are a million and one ways to poke holes in it, here’s why it fits for moi:

There are times when I’ve done all I can do; I’m sure of that. And I have a faith that makes me believe everything happens in its own time. And if I truly believe that, which I do, it makes for a pretty good night’s sleep.

Tonight I am thankful for the keep-on-keeping-on-ness within me, and for the peace that comes from knowing that as long as I’ve done my best, the pieces will fall into place when the preparation has been completed — sort of like climbing a mountain. You know you’re going up, and while you don’t know how much longer you’ve yet to climb, you’ll know it when the mountain wants you to know it.

When you reach the summit after months of training, the peace sets in, and nearly always gives way to and reveals something that’s game-changing.