Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas
The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. Alan Watts
“Did you enjoy your visit to heaven?” Peter asks someone who just passed as they reached the pearly gates. On the podcast where I heard this, the host and guest burst into laughter.
What more do we want from heaven than a beautiful day filled with sunshine? Why is it preposterous that this is heaven? Yesterday, we got our first snow, and our three-and-a-half-year-old grandson and his one-year-old sister couldn’t wait to go outside and play in the snow. The dog wanted to go out more often because she loves playing in it too.
I wasn’t excited to play in the snow, and this shows how I’ve lost some of the excitement about experiencing new things. The more we embrace what each season offers, the more we enjoy life. If we never had any sour in our lives, would we enjoy only the sweet? I’ve met people who come from countries that don’t experience winter who say winter is their favorite season.
There is a quiet joy that comes from sitting inside, warm and comfy, well-fed and secure, watching the snow come down. I think this is why we see Christmas cards with a little house, smoke coming from the chimney, surrounded by trees covered in snow, and this scene warms our hearts.
I’m not against living somewhere without winter, but I think I would miss it, at least a little bit. My daughter and I just set up a date for next Saturday to take the kids tobogganing, if there is still snow.
The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new. Socrates
Are we enjoying everything as much as we can? Do we celebrate enough, the big and the little things? We never know when it might be the last time we see someone. We used to laugh among ourselves when we’d visit Mom and Dad, even in their fifties and sixties, Dad would say, “You never know if you’ll see me again.” It sounded morbid, but it is also true, and looking at life that way might make us make the most of what we have while we have it.
Things pass away in our lives, things that will never happen again. It might be a small thing, like the last time a child asks for something particularly childish as they grow up, that stage passes. My grandson asked for hot chocolate with marshmallows this morning. His Nana sent him home with them, and he’ll get marshmallows in his hot chocolate until they are gone.
Children and grandchildren grow up fast. A friend is expecting her first grandchild in December, how exciting! People move from houses they’ve lived in for years, and away from areas they’ve built their lives. There is a last visit to a store they liked, a short conversation with a store clerk that will never happen again. People come into and out of our lives, things change, and we may want to hold onto what was, but we are onto a new chapter, even if we’d like to cling to the old one.
As we go through the seasons of our life and the seasons of the year, we may think the one just past is better than the one coming up, but we must embrace what is, not what we wish or hope for, but the reality in front of us. When we meet people who have embraced life with its difficulties and challenges, they are often the happiest. They don’t fight against what they can’t change; they make the best of what they have where they are.
I watched Dad do this after he lost most of his right hand in a farm accident. Choices Mom and Dad would never have made were on the table. They sold the farm and moved three times, and Mom moved four. I had thought Mom and Dad would be on the farm till the end, but home was wherever they were.
I wonder if we need a catalyst for change, because we like our comfortable life, even if it is like a worn-out shoe that needs replacing. Embracing change might not be easy; every change comes with challenges, but also opportunities. Once we make the change our life is calling for, we might find we enjoy our new circumstances more than the old, comfortable ones.
Is your life calling out for change? Are you embracing it, planning how to make it happen, and the opportunities change will bring?
Some changes look negative on the surface, but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge. Eckhart Tolle
In any given moment, we have two options: to step forward into growth or step back into safety. Abraham Maslow
Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Lao Tzu
Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read more, and have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.