Happy Recycled Wishes...
(Two part blog- first venting, later important things)
Think about it.
Every new year is the same as the last one.
We start off with resolutions. These resolutions are typically the same ones we had last year. My top two certainly are. They'll probably be the same next year.
Is it that time has become the enemy, or that it always WAS the enemy, I just couldn't see it yet? I suspect it's the latter.
So I learned a lot on my trip home.
First, I learned that yes indeed, 15 degrees sucks, and 45 is where it's at. Score one for Texas.
Second, I learned that home is home, and unless home moves, it always will be home. Score another for Texas.
Third, I learned that family is sometimes the most challenging facet of being alive, but to be near them is better (periodically, don't get too carried away) that to be away. Score another for Texas.
Fourth, I learned that dirt is a very beautiful thing, oft overlooked, and my dirt-starved eyes had a feast. Score again, Texas.
Fifth, I learned that the absence of ice on the roads is an incredible blessing- the ability to stop when you want to is something I will never again take for granted. Score a big one for Texas.
Finally, I learned that cold is oppressive, though I didn't realize it, and that getting around in 45 degrees is infinitely more... possible than at 15 or -15. Score again, Lone Star of my heart.
So yes, this is a disenchanted Randy. Alaska sucks. But- not for long, because in the summer time, Alaska is incredible. If only we can convince summer to arrive this year, instead of last year's "Gee, it's raining for the 45th day in a row, and the temp has yet to beat 60 degrees."
I learned more important things, too, I just had to vent all that.
I think I may have figured out part of the mental puzzle I have when it comes to accepting (dare I say embracing) change.
Change is inevitable. No denying that. Just about the time you think you like things, BAM, something changes, and you don't like things anymore. They were better before. Speaking of myself now, you understand. Perhaps you are the type of person that beckons change to overtake your comfort level, so that you may meet any challenges it brings head-on, and conquer the known universe. I am not such a person.
Anyhow, I cast this into the temporal-versus-eternal light that I have been struggling to wrap my mind around lately. And I think I have come to the conclusion that, in this lifetime, the so-called 'change' is a manifestation of the insecurity we have as humans. As kids, maybe your best friend moved away, because their dad got a new job. Your life changed, because that security you had in your best friend was yanked out from under you. As kids we don't see, but now we can look back and also identify that your friend's parents were also dealing with change and insecurity- getting a new job, probably as a result of losing the old one.
Later in life, we enter high school. Our bodies change, and we don't know what to do with them. Our tastes change, and we can't figure out what is 'cool'.
Then we graduate high school and go to college. We can't seem to keep in touch with our old friends. We hold on to them (some of us too tightly) and are resistant to make friends at college, because we don't want to lose another set of friends all over again. But that doesn't work out. College is about change.
Then we get a job and leave behind whatever sliver of security we had.
See? Change is the manifestation of the passage of time. And as such, it is a harbinger of the fact that we are marching toward inexistence, toward the unknown.
I don't like change because it takes away things and people I like. Eventually, Calvin and Mark will both end up in the mission field (I presume). This will be a very difficult change for me to deal with, because I will be forced to face the absence of two very important parts of my life. And I don't know whether I will see them again soon, or not soon, or even at all. Similarly, Benjamin will end up in Charlotte playing soccer. And when I go 'home,' he won't be within 1000 miles, so I won't get to see him. Unpleasant change. "That's life." I know. But it shouldn't be.
And all this brings me to the other side of my recent thoughts on the subject.
Once we leave this world, these bodies, this 'time,' this will all change... permanently.
Do I think change will happen in Heaven? Hard to say. I have been thinking about Heaven a lot lately, trying to figure out how I think it is, and how it works. And I conclude that, yes, the same kind of 'change' will probably exist there as does here.
The difference--and what a huge difference it is--between here and there is something like this. Even when things in Heaven change, they are already so permanent and trustworthy that they will remain the same.
When we are surrounded by God's grace and love in the most tangible sense possible, even when things change, they'll still be the same.
The fact that things change here for the worse is evidence of our fall from grace. Parents divorce. Businesses fail. Irresponsibility leads to personal bankruptcy.
But there, unforeseen change won't be the result of the existence of evil, but of God's love.
That's my thoughts for now. Discuss.
Think about it.
Every new year is the same as the last one.
We start off with resolutions. These resolutions are typically the same ones we had last year. My top two certainly are. They'll probably be the same next year.
Is it that time has become the enemy, or that it always WAS the enemy, I just couldn't see it yet? I suspect it's the latter.
So I learned a lot on my trip home.
First, I learned that yes indeed, 15 degrees sucks, and 45 is where it's at. Score one for Texas.
Second, I learned that home is home, and unless home moves, it always will be home. Score another for Texas.
Third, I learned that family is sometimes the most challenging facet of being alive, but to be near them is better (periodically, don't get too carried away) that to be away. Score another for Texas.
Fourth, I learned that dirt is a very beautiful thing, oft overlooked, and my dirt-starved eyes had a feast. Score again, Texas.
Fifth, I learned that the absence of ice on the roads is an incredible blessing- the ability to stop when you want to is something I will never again take for granted. Score a big one for Texas.
Finally, I learned that cold is oppressive, though I didn't realize it, and that getting around in 45 degrees is infinitely more... possible than at 15 or -15. Score again, Lone Star of my heart.
So yes, this is a disenchanted Randy. Alaska sucks. But- not for long, because in the summer time, Alaska is incredible. If only we can convince summer to arrive this year, instead of last year's "Gee, it's raining for the 45th day in a row, and the temp has yet to beat 60 degrees."
I learned more important things, too, I just had to vent all that.
I think I may have figured out part of the mental puzzle I have when it comes to accepting (dare I say embracing) change.
Change is inevitable. No denying that. Just about the time you think you like things, BAM, something changes, and you don't like things anymore. They were better before. Speaking of myself now, you understand. Perhaps you are the type of person that beckons change to overtake your comfort level, so that you may meet any challenges it brings head-on, and conquer the known universe. I am not such a person.
Anyhow, I cast this into the temporal-versus-eternal light that I have been struggling to wrap my mind around lately. And I think I have come to the conclusion that, in this lifetime, the so-called 'change' is a manifestation of the insecurity we have as humans. As kids, maybe your best friend moved away, because their dad got a new job. Your life changed, because that security you had in your best friend was yanked out from under you. As kids we don't see, but now we can look back and also identify that your friend's parents were also dealing with change and insecurity- getting a new job, probably as a result of losing the old one.
Later in life, we enter high school. Our bodies change, and we don't know what to do with them. Our tastes change, and we can't figure out what is 'cool'.
Then we graduate high school and go to college. We can't seem to keep in touch with our old friends. We hold on to them (some of us too tightly) and are resistant to make friends at college, because we don't want to lose another set of friends all over again. But that doesn't work out. College is about change.
Then we get a job and leave behind whatever sliver of security we had.
See? Change is the manifestation of the passage of time. And as such, it is a harbinger of the fact that we are marching toward inexistence, toward the unknown.
I don't like change because it takes away things and people I like. Eventually, Calvin and Mark will both end up in the mission field (I presume). This will be a very difficult change for me to deal with, because I will be forced to face the absence of two very important parts of my life. And I don't know whether I will see them again soon, or not soon, or even at all. Similarly, Benjamin will end up in Charlotte playing soccer. And when I go 'home,' he won't be within 1000 miles, so I won't get to see him. Unpleasant change. "That's life." I know. But it shouldn't be.
And all this brings me to the other side of my recent thoughts on the subject.
Once we leave this world, these bodies, this 'time,' this will all change... permanently.
Do I think change will happen in Heaven? Hard to say. I have been thinking about Heaven a lot lately, trying to figure out how I think it is, and how it works. And I conclude that, yes, the same kind of 'change' will probably exist there as does here.
The difference--and what a huge difference it is--between here and there is something like this. Even when things in Heaven change, they are already so permanent and trustworthy that they will remain the same.
When we are surrounded by God's grace and love in the most tangible sense possible, even when things change, they'll still be the same.
The fact that things change here for the worse is evidence of our fall from grace. Parents divorce. Businesses fail. Irresponsibility leads to personal bankruptcy.
But there, unforeseen change won't be the result of the existence of evil, but of God's love.
That's my thoughts for now. Discuss.
posted by Elmo at 12:33 AM
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