Change always comes bearing gifts. ~Price Pritchett
Change
Change. Transiton. A shift, a bend, a scent on the wind. A twist in the plot, the way-it-has-been makes way for the unknown-that-will-be.
Days feel slippery. A school year begins, a move is made, the pace quickens as the air cools. And often we feel pushed. Christmas supplies crowd pumpkin decor, while sunscreen and sand-pails pose, self-conscious, on the half-price shelf.
What is this relentless tug that refuses to let us stay in the present, to enjoy where we are?
Change. Is it curse or blessing, enemy or friend?
Susan Reed, a gifted photographer with an eye for nature’s enigma, gave me the photograph above and penciled one word on the back: Change.
A Spiritual Practice: Visio Divina
The image invites us to linger. Long before the printed word, God used the visible to speak, to draw humans to himself. A rainbow, a burning bush, a pillar of cloud and fire, a valley of dry bones. He invites us again today, through the ancient practice of Visio Divina–spiritual seeing.
Spend some quiet moments studying the photograph and ponder these questions:
- As you look at the picture, what are you reminded of?
- What feelings does it evoke?
- What metaphors for your life do you notice?
- What needs to die in your life so that new life can emerge?
- What could God do if you were willing stand leaf-less and bare before him?
Feel free to share with us what you discovered in a comment below.
Now hear these words of assurance:
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
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Image ©2012 Susan Reed
6 replies on “Sabbath Quiet: Change In The Air”
Change can be its own trial and I too often resist the effort it takes to adjust and learn and grow. But it’s a valuable work! I keep finding that embracing change spares me from the “walking death” of stagnancy! It’s a bit of mystery that God doesn’t change, yet His Spirit is on the move, doing new things. Isaiah 44:18,19
The “walking death of stagnancy.” Beautifully put, Lily.
Beautiful… Like Adam, like leaves, we will drop and return from whence we came, and go, unbound, to glory unknown. The ultimate change. Transformation.
I see that too, Ginny. There is something more permanent ahead.
I have just changed churches. Leaving the old church was very painful. Should I leave – should I stay???? What is the right thing???? I bring it all before Him. Time passes. I decide to treat the leaving of the old church as a death and allow myself time to grieve. I bring Him all my grief, doubts and fairs. Time passes. I muster the courage to walk into another church. I laugh to myself when someone I know who doesn’t even go to the new church, but is visiting, sits next to me.
Who is this God that walks through the valleys with me? The valley of change, the valley of death, the valley that leads to the next green pasture where he restores my soul after facing change.
If I were not a bare, naked leaf before Him I would be to proud to follow his lead, in the place of change.
Jay.
Beautiful, thank you for sharing this, Jay