CHANGE

“I am INEVITABLE!”

~ Thanos, Avengers:Endgame

Maybe that’s the best context to start this blog. Some big space demigod comes to threaten the existence of half the world. Pompous, with a mission and truly unwavering in his quest to eradicate what he sees as a threat to the universe - 50% of all humanity.

And he comes with a battering ram of destruction, not letting anything stand in his way. 

Sure, it’s a comic book movie…

But isn’t that how change works? 

Often times it can be subtle, but there are so many times in our lives when change comes as a slap in the face to our hearts, to our minds, our egos, our very foundations if we’re not careful. 

And it is Inevitable.

Change will come.

I don’t know if you’re like me, but it’s scary to think about things changing. And this is coming from someone who’s changed life more times than a teenaged girl getting ready to go out and gone through so many iterations of what the world looks like through the eyes of one single man. 

Change happens. 

And if you’re not changing, you’re probably not growing; possibly even regressing or just sitting in your shit! And that’s not a comfortable place to be (babies cry when they do this - adults wail and moan - which one really has a choice?)

I came home last night from being out of town and my plant that I’ve had for two years now was wilting and looked like it was dying. Unfortunately, the person who takes care of the plant had forgotten that watering the plant is a thing?!! I haven’t been diligent about giving it water on a regular basis. I couldn’t remember the last time I walked into my office and just put a little splash around the container. And it looked like it was fading fast.

Things left untended can wilt and die. Something that seemed so alive just a couple weeks before was now looking like I was going to lose it. 

Accepting the change, I went into the kitchen got some water and generously poured over and around the entire plant. 

I’m gonna have to change my behaviors here, because I like the plant. It makes me smile. It’s the first living thing in a long time that I’ve been able to nurture and keep. This is the third pot It’s been in from growing… Changing.

How do we deal with the battering rams? When everything shifts in a moment and we find ourselves faced with change that’s not quite as subtle. Do we fade away, do we hide, do we stand in front of it and go “okay, what do we need to do about this?”

Change can hurt. My son who is 10 and already stands over 5 foot tall is growing and every time a spurt hits he’s sore and achy. Change takes some growing pains. 

Change is happening. It’s happening in your life right now and it’s happening in mine as well - even as I wrote this, I’m facing change… 

There are things I want to change and things I know are changing. Thankfully I’m at a place where I can look at them and go ‘okay this needs to be changed, this I’m gonna HAVE to change, and this can wait.’ And I don’t know that I do it well, but I’m trying to filter myself through the lens of what my faith tells me is the best course of action.

Hey God, what’s next? 

And when I do that, I typically find answers; doors open or close and the change might not be quite as radical, not quite a slap in the face and I may be more able to be deal with change with a peace in my spirit that only comes from something bigger than myself.

Change.

Is. 

Inevitable. 

 ~ Peace

The Burtle