Change is All Around Us Editor's Letter - October 2007
I remember when I was a kid, every Tuesday night we would watch Happy Days. I couldn’t imagine not having Happy Days on Tuesday night at 8:00 pm to watch. So when it ended in 1984, I was two years out of high school and still could not imagine a Tuesday night without Happy Days. I don’t know why its such a poignant memory for me, I suspect it’s when I realized that some change happens without my interaction.
I was in college when Happy Days ended. Even though college was a major change in my life, I was prepared for college, I saw that change coming. I didn’t prepare for the end of Happy Days.
Change, to me, is ironic. We plan our lives, then change happens, but it’s really only noticeable when it doesn’t match what we planned. Planning is in itself ironic; one of my favorite sayings is “if you want to make God laugh, plan.” Unexpected change can feel like some sort of time warp. I was really reminded of it again this weekend when I found out my daughter’s roller skate instructor was leaving. It’s just a drop-in class, but in my head it was something she would be doing every Saturday until she either had enough or moved on to a higher level. It never even occurred to me the instructor would leave and there would be no replacement. It really isn’t a big deal in the scheme of life, but that moment struck a chord and just kept vibrating.
Life also brings us huge changes we don’t expect. Several years ago, I had a conversation with a woman whose husband had been killed in a car accident on the way home from work. We were talking about whether it was better to know someone is dying or to have it happen suddenly. My father had recently passed away of lung cancer, and it was about two months from when we actually know he would die until he did. It wasn’t a morbid conversation, like it sounds, but it was a wondering of what is a better way to have vital change occur. There really is no good way or bad way. Even when we have something planned, an outside event can change that plan. Babies are a perfect example, they are conceived when the Lord deems it time, and they are born when they are ready, whether late, early, or on time. Children are another example. They change before our eyes, yet when they are small, we don’t translate them immediately into teens or adults, we don’t know what they will look like or be like. Sometimes, when they are grown, we look into their faces and get a flashback of the child they were an it’s shocking, it seemed so quick.
Change is all around us. Life is change. We are really not in control of anything in our lives; our health is dependent on our bodies, our jobs are dependent on the stability of the company, the weather is dependent on Mother Nature. Everything around us is static, nothing remains the same. I can get pretty worked up over this, because as you know from previous newsletters, I am afraid of everything. But I can also stand back and contemplate how fascinating change is in our lives. It’s really about what we do with the changes that come our way, not so much the changes themselves. The change can become a positive or negative experience, depending on our attitude. It reminds me of the serenity prayer: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Even the Lord tells us to change: I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3. But before I freak everyone out about our static lives and how little control we really have, remember we do have one constant and that is God. He is very specific that He will not change: I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Malachi 3:6; Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17
We have one foundation in our lives, one thing we can depend on not to change and that is God. We can flounder, we can make choices, we can plan, but God will still be there, unchanging. I had planned to write a separate article about the garden of emotion, when I did it came out unfeeling and bookish. Then I realized this editor’s letter was really about the garden of emotion. Change taps into our emotions. Change is what opens our emotions to the different stressors in our lives. Our stress levels are dependent on how we handle the change. We need to give our emotions a break from stress. We need to find ways to let go: exercise, prayer, a hot soak in a tub, a retreat. We need to allow ourselves to cry, laugh and enjoy life. Our emotions are the webs in our lives that keep everything together. We can get tangled in the web, or like a spider, run across the web enjoying what the web catches for us.
As we come into these next three months and our Gardens of Stewardship grace us with more options for learning, stay open to change. All three gardens, polis in October, decisions in November, and emotions in December are gardens which open us up to change. Let’s embrace change, however it comes to us. I know I have, I am no longer waiting for Happy Days to return.
I was in college when Happy Days ended. Even though college was a major change in my life, I was prepared for college, I saw that change coming. I didn’t prepare for the end of Happy Days.
Change, to me, is ironic. We plan our lives, then change happens, but it’s really only noticeable when it doesn’t match what we planned. Planning is in itself ironic; one of my favorite sayings is “if you want to make God laugh, plan.” Unexpected change can feel like some sort of time warp. I was really reminded of it again this weekend when I found out my daughter’s roller skate instructor was leaving. It’s just a drop-in class, but in my head it was something she would be doing every Saturday until she either had enough or moved on to a higher level. It never even occurred to me the instructor would leave and there would be no replacement. It really isn’t a big deal in the scheme of life, but that moment struck a chord and just kept vibrating.
Life also brings us huge changes we don’t expect. Several years ago, I had a conversation with a woman whose husband had been killed in a car accident on the way home from work. We were talking about whether it was better to know someone is dying or to have it happen suddenly. My father had recently passed away of lung cancer, and it was about two months from when we actually know he would die until he did. It wasn’t a morbid conversation, like it sounds, but it was a wondering of what is a better way to have vital change occur. There really is no good way or bad way. Even when we have something planned, an outside event can change that plan. Babies are a perfect example, they are conceived when the Lord deems it time, and they are born when they are ready, whether late, early, or on time. Children are another example. They change before our eyes, yet when they are small, we don’t translate them immediately into teens or adults, we don’t know what they will look like or be like. Sometimes, when they are grown, we look into their faces and get a flashback of the child they were an it’s shocking, it seemed so quick.
Change is all around us. Life is change. We are really not in control of anything in our lives; our health is dependent on our bodies, our jobs are dependent on the stability of the company, the weather is dependent on Mother Nature. Everything around us is static, nothing remains the same. I can get pretty worked up over this, because as you know from previous newsletters, I am afraid of everything. But I can also stand back and contemplate how fascinating change is in our lives. It’s really about what we do with the changes that come our way, not so much the changes themselves. The change can become a positive or negative experience, depending on our attitude. It reminds me of the serenity prayer: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Even the Lord tells us to change: I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3. But before I freak everyone out about our static lives and how little control we really have, remember we do have one constant and that is God. He is very specific that He will not change: I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Malachi 3:6; Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17
We have one foundation in our lives, one thing we can depend on not to change and that is God. We can flounder, we can make choices, we can plan, but God will still be there, unchanging. I had planned to write a separate article about the garden of emotion, when I did it came out unfeeling and bookish. Then I realized this editor’s letter was really about the garden of emotion. Change taps into our emotions. Change is what opens our emotions to the different stressors in our lives. Our stress levels are dependent on how we handle the change. We need to give our emotions a break from stress. We need to find ways to let go: exercise, prayer, a hot soak in a tub, a retreat. We need to allow ourselves to cry, laugh and enjoy life. Our emotions are the webs in our lives that keep everything together. We can get tangled in the web, or like a spider, run across the web enjoying what the web catches for us.
As we come into these next three months and our Gardens of Stewardship grace us with more options for learning, stay open to change. All three gardens, polis in October, decisions in November, and emotions in December are gardens which open us up to change. Let’s embrace change, however it comes to us. I know I have, I am no longer waiting for Happy Days to return.