“Everything changes, nothing remains without change.”

— Buddha

Only yesterday, my sweetheart and I found ourselves in a philosophical conversation about change.  It started because of a chat with our daughter about finding the sort of man she would like to commit to for life.  We talked about her good friends and what it was that made them choose each other.  ”I can say anything to them,” she explained, “and if we disagree, we can agree to disagree.”  ”Agreeing to disagree works far better with friends whose lives are not interdependent with our own than it does with partners who must work together toward common goals,” I had told her. “What is important is knowing that your own view is heard and respected, whether the end result is agreement or not.”

As we chatted last night about how different each of us was now from the two young people who embarked on our marriage adventure twenty-five years ago, what seemed most important to us was the way we had learned to accept changes in ourselves and in one another.  As we accepted and felt acceptance as each of us grew, we felt free to become more than we ever thought we might be.  There is freedom in learning to embrace change — whether good or bad at the time, it is usually change that leads to its spiritual counterpart — transformation.

I always tell  my kids, especially at challenging times, that the best thing about life is that it always changes.  What seems insurmountable today may lie behind us tomorrow or next week; and when we look over our shoulders toward the places we have been, they seem far less monumental than they did at first glance.  As life changes and we learn to adapt and embrace the change, we grow in confidence and in competence for the next challenge that lies before us.  How quickly we would become bored with life if it stayed the same for all eternity.

As I walked through the park this morning, I found myself aware of all the change that is in the air.  Fall is creeping into our land, and the light of morning is arriving later each day.  Today the full moon still hung in the daytime sky as the sun was barely reaching over the eastern horizon.  The birds are restless.  Their nesting is done, and they gather in groups as they prepare for their flight to warmer lands as soon as the air grows cold.  Fallen trees lay on the bank of the creek, pruned by the recent storms, and two stumps were all that remained of the familiar trees that once stood in a far corner of the park.  I approached an old willow that had fallen last Spring and noticed that tiny new shoots were growing from its fractured roots.

Change can seem like a bad thing at the time we first confront it, but only with change can new growth take place.  Not all changes are abrupt and obvious, like the falling of a tree.  Some take time and evolve slowly.  I turned for home today with the awareness that I was a different person today than I had been at this time yesterday.  It is a subtle thing, barely noticeable; and it was shown to me today by the trees and the sky and the restless birds.  I embrace the change that stirs me to wonder and look ahead to what may grow in the soil enriched by the change of today.