Change

This has been a summer of change, and change can be hard. The unexpected death of a sister-in-law, my mother moving to assisted living, and the cleaning out of her home each means that life will never be the same. I liked life as it was.

The recent changes leave me with many questions: Will we still be able to come to California? Where will we stay? How can I best care for my mother? How can I keep in touch with my brothers? Our family roles seem to be changing and that causes conflict. Fortunately, our love for each other has triumphed over every conflict, but there are conflicts, and I expect more will come.  

I find assurance in a statement based on a T.S. Elliot poem, “He is the still point in the turning world.” When I was a child, my father would take me for a ride on the spinning teacups at Disneyland. I soon learned that if I tried to look outward, everything moving so quickly past my eyes would make me dizzy. However, if I focused my eyes on my father, it felt as if I wasn’t moving at all.

In times of change, my focus is on God. He is the still point of the turning world.