I am sure you are familiar with the famous saying “the only constant is change”. This month, with fall upon us and change in the air, I am wondering what this really means in our lives. Just recently, I went for a walk through a park. It was one of the last days of summer. The sun was bright, the temperature warm, birds were singing. At first glance, it did not seem as one of the last days of summer. It could have been a cool summer day. Then I noticed something – a tree. I think it was a Japanese maple tree. Its leaves had started turning red. When those leaves turn red, it is a certain sign that fall is coming. Fall foliage is a sure sign of autumn and certainly a sign of the end of summer.
The change of seasons is a natural change you might say. You might also say that you have no problem with this kind of change. When temperatures drop, you just change your wardrobe. When summer activities seize, you simply move indoors. You might also look back in agony and wish that summer would never end. You might try to resist this change. I belong to the second group. Change is hard for me. Why can’t we, as human beings, not simply accept it as our Mother Nature does? Mother Nature does not hold on to the leaves. She lets them go. Why? Because she knows that the tree needs to rest so the new leaves, which are still hidden, can grow once spring comes. One could also say something similar about the oak tree. From an acorn mighty oak trees grow. This saying is a good reminder of how much good can come from this change and something so little if we just trust and give it time to grow.
Change can be many different things. It can be sudden; it can be gradual; it can be joyful and hoped for; and it can be hurtful and literally depressing. I believe that change can seem scary because the future is uncertain. However, if you look at nature, nothing is uncertain there. Everything is already planned and ready to be born when the time is right. Out of something old, something new comes. Out of something little, something big is born. This is the law of nature. Take a small, unknown town in the countryside which wants to grow. Add an attraction, a museum, offer something unique. Polish it up, get the word out. Do what you can to put that place on the map. Don’t look back into the past and how great this place once was. Embrace change and create its future. Plant an acorn today. Change can be hurtful for a while. Take a relationship with a colleague, who leaves the company you work at for example. How many tears have I shed already when I liked my colleague very much? Uncertain about whether we would ever see each other again, we hug and say our good-byes. Such a change is hard. I usually miss my beloved colleagues terribly. However, when we meet again, I realize why this change had to happen – so we could change and become friends for life and not only coworkers from 9 to 5. Our acorn developed into an oak tree, which will stand and continue to grow for a long, long time.
You see, I still think that change is hard. However, with faith that something good comes out of every change, I take change for what it is. It is not a loss of any kind. It is just a sign of life that something new, and perhaps something even greater, is about to be born.
Love, Barbara
Copyright © 2014 by Barbara Bullock
Photo credit: Barbara Bullock 2014