Fall is peeking around the corner at me. Orange yarn is nestled in my boxes waiting to be knotted or knitted into scarves and hats. I have halloween bags set aside for the boys. There are decorations in the basement screaming at me to come out. While it may be peeking out, we’re not quite ready for fall and as a family we’re trying to live every moment of summer before fall descends. Squeeze each drop out of the towel so to speak before we move on and move into a new way of living.
This fall brings with it major change for our family. The boys are both in school and Mom goes to work. Dad, well Dad continues on but for him change is happening too. There are different office hours and a new family dynamic. Change it would seem cannot be escaped. Change is coming. I sound like George R.R. Martin here with his “Winter is coming…” but change is coming and isn’t that grand? Each moment we live is new bringing with it a time that we have never lived and will never live again. Each choice, each action brings possibilities for newness and movement.
Jesus lived in perpetual movement it seems. He paused for prayer and teaching but he was regularly found traveling, talking, embracing and connecting. He can be seen in motion, in relationship, in activities that required something of himself. Jesus lived life as if he would never live again and then amazingly he did. Perhaps there is something to be learned there.
I’ve been meditating lately on the passage from Matthew where Jesus says we must lose our lives to save them. I think in a way he’s referring to the motion of life and our desire to control where we are going. We often talk about the need for us to be willing to follow but maybe it’s more than just being willing. Jesus wants us to be willing to surrender completely and allow the breath of God to move through our lives. How many of us say we are willing to follow but then want to control how we do so? So often as people we want to control things, even our surrender.
Fall is peaking around the corner. There is movement in the world indicating the change in season. The mornings have a chill that wasn’t there last week. The sun is taking longer each day to stretch into the sky as it peers up over the horizon. And my plants? Well they are finding it harder to be happy these days. Fall is peeking around the corner. The leaves will turn and pumpkins will pop up. Change is coming. The question is will we allow ourselves to move with it?
