Changes Coming…

By -

The wind whistles through the windows, rain pelts the window panes and temperatures fall by the minute as the cold front hurries down from the north.  When I went to bed last night, gentle winds from the southeast caressed our corner of the world, stars shone brightly in the night sky.  I had stepped outside just before bed to breathe deeply the comparative cool of the evening, preparing to go and sleep.  And then, around 5am this morning, everything changed.  I awoke to winds and rains…and to the cold air blowing through the house.  I awoke refreshed, filled with anticipation at the changes rushing in upon us.

I sit now in our living room, awake and writing far too early, listening to the patter of rain as if falls on leaves and driveway.  Because the winds still blow, and colder by the moment, and because we are reluctant to close up the house, I sit wearing my polartec…bringing back memories of winters in Monterrey where we could not escape the winter cold.  Here, of course, we can escape the cold that rolls in…but we choose not to, enjoying the brisk and bracing morning air.  We may tire of the cold soon…and then we will close it all up.  But, for now, I breathe deeply the cool air…while the family snuggles more deeply in their warm beds, sheets and covers pulled warmly around them.

Life-changes too often come this way, surprising us, shocking our system, disrupting our routines, awakening us when we least expect…or least desire.  Yet, it is not a bad thing.  The changes of weather remind us of how little control we actually have in life…and remind us that while we cannot control happenings and circumstances, we do have something to do with how we respond.  I could have snuzzled down more deeply in my bed this morning, too…but I decided, determined, to arise and write, to enjoy the quiet of the morning and the start of this new day.  I do not regret my choice.

When those unexpected changes in life come, those changes that are far more impactful than mere weather, how do we respond?  How do we react?  Do we recoil in fear, self-doubt, uncertainty…and snuzzle-down under the covers of life?  Or, do we see the changing winds as something to experience, as a moment to face with anticipation and expectation?  Do the rains dampen our lives, or do we see them as feeding our future, as a necessary element for a healthy life-garden?

As I awoke around 5am, I knew that the weather had changed, the wind had changed, the temperature had changed…I knew that a cold-front was coming into our sub-tropical lives here in south Texas.  But, I also knew that something more profound was moving into my own life.  I felt the hints of change even last night…and the night before.  Something in my own mind and heart was changing…that change was coming. 

While I’m aware of the obvious changes that come with the weather, I don’t know what to expect with regard to the changes in my mind and heart that are coming.  I cannot see what the changes will be in my interior life.  Yet, I prepare to face the changes as I have faced this front—head-on, awake, with anticipation, with hope, welcoming the change, knowing that change will grow me, push me, move me.

Changes are coming…and it’s about time!  My God is with me and is shaping me through time and experience more and more into the person I am to be.  So, let’s see what new and exciting things come into this adventure of life….

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“Where are You From?”—My Cultural-Linguistic Journey

By -
Image
  “Where are you from?” Few questions illicit as much anxiety as this one. At times, I even avoid meeting new people just to side-step this question. “Where are you from?”—seems like such an easy question that should have such an easy answer. For me and others like me, not so. I am a part of that anomalous group of people called “Third Culture Kids”—those who are born in one culture, raised in another, and never completely ‘at home’ anywhere—and often multilingual in some sense or another. Here is my journey…. [In a rich southern drawl] I was born in south Alabama…way down south where the peanut and cotton fields fill the landscape. I came into that world in the mid-60’s…long before cable TV, central a/c, cell phones, and anything akin to ‘urban sprawl.’ My daddy was the Baptist preacher at a small and growin’ church outside of Dothan, Alabama…that’s ‘Dothan’ – “DOOOE-thun.” My momma, a school teacher, and daddy raised my two older brothers and me in a good Southern home. My f...
Read more

I Never Met Jesus…

By -
Sounds like an odd confession coming from this disciple, pastor, missionary guy, but stay with me…. The lady is an amazing woman who has affected my life in profound ways. I have watched her and learned from her. She has molded me and shaped me in many ways. I listened to her as she told stories, as she conversed with others, as she spoke in gentle whispers and in those rare occasions when deep anger rose to the surface. I followed her at times through great crowds of people…and sat near her around tables, on beaches and in cars. Her songs lulled me sleep…her voice called me to life in the mornings. However, the curious thing is that I never ‘met’ this woman—Mom was just always there. Having grown up in the Church and in a Christian home, Jesus was just always there. From the Bible stories that my parents read to me at night…to the prayers around the table at meal-times…to the Bibles that seemed to form a part of my parents’ accoutrements—Jesus was just always there, simply part of the...
Read more

How to Joyfully Survive an ‘Economic Down-Turn’ (or Recession, Depression, etc.)

By -
Image
This idea has been swirling around inside my mind for almost two years, so I guess it’s time to put it on paper.  Now, some will say, “Why’d wait TWO years if you have the answer for us!?!?”  I don’t know.  I guess I’m busy…and perhaps a bit lazy…but more than anything,  I really wanted to turn my thoughts over and over in my mind to make sure I wasn’t telling you something misleading or incorrect.  Two years later, I believe this is a big part of the answer. The secret to joyfully surviving a recession or to living it through it basically unscathed is this:  Decide to live beneath your means. Now, the first part of that statement is SUPER important.  You (and I) must make the mental decision, must take that intellectual step.  If it’s forced on us—which is what a recession or depression may really do, then there is no joy in the living.  We find ourselves bitter, jealous, on a long-term ‘pity-pot’…if not in debt, homeless or...
Read more