Finally I am setting pen to paper (or in this case finger to keyboard). My three weeks off were very pleasant. Travelled to a new country for both of us. Enjoyed playing tourist. Saw a little. Was amazed by much. Learned much. Crossed a thing or two off of my bucket list.
This past week I had a week off at home. I got to catch up on the mundane things like laundry. I did some reading. I watched a few movies. I transitioned from the bright lights of Tokyo and Osaka to the quieter streets of St. Leonards.
In many ways, after my short break, things were exactly the same. Our house was just as we found it. Our neighbourhood was pretty much the same other than a couple of building projects had progressed along. The stores were much the same other then our neighbourhood grocery store announced it would be closing. But despite these small changes, life continues much the same.
Small changes happened in the world as well. We have a new prime minister for instance. The campaign manager and legal advisor for Donald Trump faced legal challenges. Teresa May proved that one does not have to be able to dance in order to rule Britain. Despite these small changes though, life seems to go on. A few pieces of life have been moved to keep us interested, but in general life goes forward in its course and changes are not noticeable. Yes certain things have changed or modified their course but still the sun rises, the birds sing, children argue with their parents. Things have changed and not changed at the same time.
A few years back I saw a posting on Facebook of a man who took a selfie each day for three years. Between the first picture and the last picture you do notice some changes in the man. His glasses had changed. His hair was quite a bit more grey. He had lost a few kilograms. There were quite a few differences that one could notice between picture one and picture 1095. But in looking at each photo in order, one could see few changes in the man's appearance. Each day the changes were so gradual you hardly noticed them (well one noticed the difference between photo 40 and 41 when the man got his first haircut in a month or between day 124 and 125 when the man got his new glasses. On those days changes were quite noticeable . But even though most days most changes were negligible, the man's appearance changed a fair amount over three years.
Things are constantly changing. Most of these changes we hardly register. My beard did not go suddenly white but did so gradually over the years. I have not always been 175cms tall, but grew slowly from 50 cms at birth to 175cms by age 16. Other changes in me were abrupt- like when I decided to shave my head- it was hair today gone tomorrow. But no matter how slowly or quickly things change, we must learn to adapt to those changes. Life tomorrow will not be the same as life today whether I notice it or not. What we are called to do is to continually adapt to these changes. Blessings
