Changes..........

I'm not quite sure where this is going.  Sometimes just putting words to my thoughts helps me to process something that is on my mind.  Yesterday, as I visited with a couple of friends, the same topic came up with both. It has caused me to ponder how quickly things change. 

We go along in life, living day to day, things are pretty good.  Things have a way of changing and for the most part you adapt and adjust, the course stays pretty consistent.   You are happy, you may be in love, you may be learning what fun retirement is, the world is yours and it is wonderful. 

Suddenly something really BIG happens to alter your entire way of going.  Something happens that in your wildest dreams you wouldn't have expected.  My friends and I discussed this yesterday.  We looked back to only six months ago or as far back as last year. The changes have been dramatic for my friends.  Unexpected deaths, a stroke, medical crisis, unexpected custody of grand children or love that you thought was all important, ended without explanation.  We are living through an economy that has caused job losses, at this moment there is a major crisis in the Gulf Coast area.  The lives of so many people are now  forever transformed.  The impact is difficult and it has a ripple effect as the days continue to move along.  What we thought was so significant is no longer important.  Living with dramatic life changing events is all that matters.  It is called survival.

I watch my friends adapt to these changes, I listen to them as the wonder what happened.  I hear them say they went to bed one night and awoke the next morning to life changing circumstances.  I have listened as they try to figure how to cope with these changes and I am amazed at the strength and endurance they have.  They are moving forward, doing what has to be done to survive their unplanned crisis.  The power of their faith and persevere surrounds them now.  They wonder what happened to the dream and the life they had only a day ago, six months ago, a year ago or more.   They continue to move forward, they are making new dreams.  I am honored to know these people, they are teaching me about the meaning of real strength.  They are also helping me to be a more compassionate person, a more giving person and a more loving friend.  

When I say my prayers during the day, I wonder when it changed for me.  I'm embarrassed that those prayers so long ago were self centered and for things that seriously didn't matter in the big scheme of things.  I now pray for my friends that are struggling, I pray for all the animals, birds, water critters, even the insects......  I pray for all the living plants, the heavens above and our Mother Earth.  I wonder when I realized that we all need each other to survive another day.  I am learning to be compassionate for all things that live.  We are all on this earth together, trying to survive the changes.  We all need each other to do this.

Photo reminds me of a quote:  What a caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls a BUTTERFLY.     ~  Richard Bach ~