Gratitude 23 … Change
Today I am grateful for change — specifically those calls to transition that take the form of loss, pain and any other disturbing destruction of the old; specifically those times when our clinging to what was (and our yearnings for what could be) are ripped from our grasp — making room for a renewal of Self that opens a new path back to a deeper, more Meaning-filled Life …
Of course, the moments immediately following such upheaval (literally “Up-Heave-All”) are not free from pain. Indeed, after any storm has passed, paths must be cleared before they can be walked anew …
And yet, it is this removal of the “dead growth” that allows us to see the fears and desires that had shackled our previous lives; self-centered behaviors and superficial habits that had bound our happiness and imprisoned our Peace. And it is during such times that we realize, with more clarity than ever before, that we are Soul-creatures — first and foremost Beings of Love, and that no severity of event or dysfunctionality of conduct can alter this fact.
And most importantly of all, it is during these times of change that we gain a renewed Strength of Purpose and a refreshed Vigor of Character. It is during these initial moments of courageous “setting out again” that we are truly reborn. Our resolve is bulwarked thereby, and we re-enter the world with a determination to enliven our True Selves — to be servants as opposed to seeking to be served. We have been reminded by our already-fading tragedies that we are here to revel in our time, and that we must do so by caringly engaging the lives of others.
And so I enter this day again grateful for my life — its times of ease, yes, and yet even more so for its times of turbulent change. I remember that both my pasts (thickly shrouded in the haze of arrogant attachment) and my future (hidden by the foggy mists of worry or hope) are only illusions; that I am only to truly live in this very moment, with all the calms and distresses it contains.
And when I do so — there is no more change …
There is only this instant … and what I choose to Do with it.
And so it is that I climb to my proverbial mountaintop, take a deep breath filled with profound reverence, and let loose with a long & loud –
Thank Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!
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