Patience Before the Plunge

Found along the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific Coasts of the Americas, the brown pelican is one of the world’s most unique-looking birds, and personally, my favorite animal. It has a wingspan of 6 to 8 feet, lives for more than 20 years, and, if you didn’t know, eats fish the majority of the day. Its graceful gliding along the ocean allows it to prepare for what it does best of all: plunge dive into the water to catch fish.

Pelicans don’t dive randomly. They spend time observing the fish in the water, waiting for the right moment for the dramatic dive down to catch their food. During a dive, the brown pelican tucks its head and rotates its body to the left, likely done to cushion their neck from the impact of the water. Just before they hit the surface, their pouch-like mouth opens to catch the fish and engulf a large volume of water at the same time. When they reach the surface after the dive, they raise their head and contract the muscles around the pouch, allowing water to drain out and leave only the fish inside. If you’ve never seen it in person, it’s a marvelous sight.

While the brown pelican is best known for its spectacular dives, what often goes unnoticed is how much time it spends waiting before making its move. It spends hours a day flying across the surface of the water, looking for prey. The time it spends actually eating fish is incomparable to the preparation it takes to find and dive for them. In a world that often pressures us to act quickly and make immediate decisions, the pelican reminds us that patience is not weakness. Sometimes the wisest decision is to wait, observe and trust that the right moment to act will come.

Life comes with lots of decisions. Like the pelican, we won’t succeed in all of them – many pelican dives miss their target, and they don’t spend time worrying about it. They soar back into the sky and try again. Failure is often a part of the process rather than proof that the process didn’t work. It’s important to learn from decisions, but recognize that the best step to take after an unsuccessful dive is probably another dive.

Patience is key to a good decision. The pelican reminds us that success is not found in constant motion, but often in patient observation and wise timing. By waiting for the right opportunity to take action, you conserve energy and increase the chances for success. Those who prepare faithfully today are ready when tomorrow’s opportunity arrives, because the right move at the right time is worth more than a hundred rushed decisions.