Grounding In The Midst of Change

What gives us comfort in times of change? What brings us stability in times of change? These are two questions my husband asked me, knowing they were questions that would come up in a meeting he was heading out to. So with my hands wrapped around my hot cup of strong coffee, he getting ready to head out the door, we spent a few minutes sharing our thoughts and realities pertaining to these questions.

Change is certainly not seasonal; it is momentary and constant and I find myself less attuned to the small changes and not very ready for the big changes that come along! I never feel quite prepared for the surprise of changes that are not of my own choosing. When they are my own choice I am not prepared for the layers of my life that shift when I embark on road. Everything inside me begins to shift and in order to stay grounded I seek places of safety, whether I am aware of it or not.

My inner being, that inner place of knowing, seeks safety in ways that seem so normal, so ordinary and every day. These are ways that are not consciously seeking safety but they are every day tasks that settle my racing thoughts, agitation, and actions that bring me back to being present.

As the two of us held this question together my answers were things like wrapping my hands around a hot cup of coffee or tea, bathing with only candles to light the room, sitting down at the piano to play, settling into my big arm chair with my feet up and putting on contemplative music, centering prayer, sitting at the edge of the sea, or walking in the wind. What is it about these tasks the brings grounding in the midst of change? Perhaps there is some deep answer to this question but in this moment my answer is just the simple observation that these ordinary things draw me into a place of knowing and experiencing God as present. I think I see that my faith and those places of Holy Presence in the ordinary are so real and so much a part of daily living and how the Spirit so faithfully draws me to those places. And that feels sure, grounded, and safe in the changes that continually unfold around me.