Today marks our 42nd wedding anniversary. My husband and I share a collective long-term history of ongoing change, and the evidence of God's grace and mercy that have accompanied us along the way.
In the current chapter of our life together, we’re turning new pages (again) and managing transitions (again) with an eye out for personal growth enabled by the
grace of God (again). Hope drives
it all (again). Nothing new, and
yet it feels very new – the cutting edge of life is never dull.
Change can come softly or seem almost militant, a saber
that slashes away at practiced realities to shred the norm into unrecognizable
bits and pieces. Every time this kind of aggressive,
demanding change strikes it feels new all over again: we don’t get used to
pain. And yet I’ve learned that accepting the siege is the way through it. Resisting the inevitable is deadly to
soul and spirit, and sometimes body as well. Trusting the course of life - or rather trusting the One in
charge of it - brings healing.
Another
new, challenging phase is in full swing as we celebrate our 42 years together. We're letting go of people we love, sending them off to a faraway land with pieces of our hearts attached.
Meanwhile, small but meaningful graces abound, as usual. Memories shout the shadow of their presence as sunshine glows like tongues of fire on the lake’s ripples. A gentle breeze inspires renewal. And a rose plant decides to show its first blossom of the year at just the
right time, beauty resembling the face of the one who gave it to me, now gone.
“The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light
in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just
before you. Then do not grasp at
the stars, but do life’s plain, common work as it comes – certain that daily
duties and daily bread are the sweetest things of life.”
-Robert Louis Stevenson
-Robert Louis Stevenson
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