Change; the Great Constant

Imagine a world where nothing ever changed. The leaves on every tree remained, and fruits grew year round with no budding, no emptying harvest. No new people were born, and the people on earth just stuck around because they never aged. What if perpetual even temperature ruled, with no fluctuation in weather?

Utopia? Or nightmare?

I personally am bored without change.

And I'm simultaneously traumatized by it. This past season has brought the unexpected death of several men in the prime of life, both in the public eye, and in my private acquaintance. This kind of change is horrifying, and sobering. But, it also allows an opportunity to peer into the unknown with greater interest, and to view a life in its totality.

The death of Steve Jobs opened a door of appreciation for the man and his contribution to the world that made his living image pale by comparison. The sadness of our loss remains, however, as change is always bittersweet. We cannot have something new without giving up something old. The concept of 'eternal exchange' entombs the idea of trade; tit for tat.

The revolving seasons, the daybreak and evening sunset remain as a pulsing reminder that we are still here. At any time unexpected change could occur, while everyday the comfort of daily and seasonal change lulls us through life like a child rocked by its mother.

I remain in wonder at the paradox.

One Little Bone

What a marvel is our body! We have 208 bones in all. When one little foot bone is stressed or fractured, it can keep us off our feet, as my hubby has been learning. Such a small part, and so important.

When one part can't function, everything else is compromised. So all the other bones, and muscles lean toward it, and make new arrangements to help.

The hands touch it, and give it ice and heat. The knees bend so it can be elevated or immobile. The mouth relates the story to the doctor, so he can prescribe treatment. The neck turns to find other alternatives to activity and industry. There is a virtual concert of self-care that is automatic, not to mention the emotional, and psychological nurturing that happens whenever we have an injury.

So, let the nursing begin. As he's heard me say before, "You only have two feet, and you need both of them, so take care of yourself." I think he's listening. The ears are helping, too.

Picking Up Words

Some people work well with numbers. I don't. That is why I am not at the business end of a bank counter, or behind the desk of a math teacher.

Words, however are a bird of a different color, at least to me. I collect them.  The image of me scanning and collecting alphabetical symbols resembles Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins as Bert the Chimney-Sweep/Street musician with instruments strapped to every appendage. They are as much a part of me as those instruments were to Bert. Have you seen the "hoarders reality show"? Sufficient metaphorical insertion.

Some people scavenge curbside garbage scheduled for pick-up and others scavenge ideas, concepts and their expression in the printed and spoken word. Actually, I'm guilty of both.

The other day, I was on the elliptical bike at the gym, and a catheter commercial came up. To most people, this would be either an annoyance, or a godsend. To me it was neither, but rather it was an opportunity to add  a word to my book that gave it a new dimension. Throw the word catheter into a conversation and you've definitely changed the dynamic. I then saw the word ingress on  the screen of a newscast. I'd heard of egress, but never ingress. In this instance they were describing a cyber-hacker gaining access into a computer program. What a lovely dark word. I must use this too, I thought, but perhaps in a different way. The possibilities of words and their combination seem endless. I guess I'm a word junkie.

The sounds and images that words emit give depth to our everyday lives. Why settle for the same few hundred words (as research suggests we have defaulted to) when language offers so much more? 

I've Fallen, But I'll Get Up

It's happened. It's no longer light enough to see in the kitchen without the light on when I get up at 6:30. The mercury dropped, too, but only slightly. A little rain came down.

Summer fell to it's knees today, and my heart sank just a little. I love summer, and am always a little blue when its over. I know I'm not typical. Most everyone else is ecstatic.

That's okay. My time will come again. In about 4 months.

In the meantime, I console myself with all things pumpkin, lots of extra lights and candles (to imitate the sun!) and the excitement of the Christmas Season. That gets me through half of it. The other half I will myself through with hot drinks, and lots of reading!!!

I feel better already.

Intimidated by a Smart Phone

It's chic. It's cool. It was *free*.
It knows things I don't and assumes I know things.

It has its own  vocabulary. I thought I was pretty intelligent to use the word sync in a musical sense. Oops. I have to choose to sync apps manually or (I forgot the other choice). Speaking of choices, it offers me more choices than a Costco in Hong Kong. I'm a baby boomer in app paradise.

It takes pictures almost before I push the button, and I call people accidentally.

It can leap tall buildings in a single bound, and go across two oceans to tell me the time, news and weather in Germany.

I'm impressed. I feel a little bit smarter, but not much.

A Toast to the Mystery

In the past week, who could have guessed that more people would be jeopardized by cantelopes than by falling satellite debris?

Who knoweth what a day may bring forth?

When I awaken each morning I have expectations about what the day will bring based on several things: what I have to do for the day, how my mood is, how the people I live with respond to me, and what I believe about the Creator of life. It's often in that exact order.

Tomorrow  is an unopened package that I mentally shake, and maybe even tear a corner off of to peek into the future. I live virtually blind to the future, and yet I live each day with hope. The amount of hope I have for the day usually determines how well I meet it. In other words, if I look for a good day, I can generally find it.

Here's hoping that you meet the next new day, new week, new month, and  new season with courage and above all, hope.

Blessings Are Often Disguised as Challenges

None of us would deliberately choose troubles. And yet, some troubles come with their own side-kick blessings.

One example of this is money trouble. It forces you to:

re-prioritize
sympathize with others less fortunate
accept a liberal dose of humility
contemplate what is absolutely necessary for life

It adds a depth to your life that affluence can't. Of course, I'd like to try affluence, just for a while, to see how it feels! But I've discovered over the last 50 odd years that depth of character is more important to me than most anything else. I guess God knew that too. He always knows, doesn't He?

I've been fortunate to have been born in the most wealthy country in the world, and have grown up privileged in many ways. This current recession is a blessing in disguise for all of us who never knew that we really can trust God for our daily bread.

How many blessings in disguise have you experienced?