Changes and other things

We aren't accustomed to old-fashioned winters. It seems like this has been one of them. There was a snow day for school children last week. And tomorrow and into next week we have a forecast for the 50s and 60s. Hopefully from now on. It's time to think about flower and vegetable gardens.

I can remember when Dad thought if you planted flowers, that was a terrible waste of money. But Mom planted her roses, begonias, petunias--whatever she wanted to look at for that summer. When the new garage went up, the elderberry bush and the lilac bush, a couple of the symbols of my very young years--those kinds of things that trigger memories--were disposed of.

We moved to Spruce Street when I was 4 years old. Mom grew up in that neighborhood. The backyard overflowed with flowers. I don't know what happened to them. Perhaps Dad mowed them down when he cut the grass.

Seasons change. Years pass. Even if we can't see the subtle changes, we age a tiny bit each day. We slowly adapt to the events that pass through our lives, adjust to the empty places that are impossible to fill yet we become involved with distractions that help us to heal from our losses and grow a little wiser, Sometimes, not so wise.

The thing is, we need to believe in something bigger than ourselves, not to sidestep reality but to improve it and the quality of life. Quality of life isn't measured in possessions. It is how we react to the events that impact us, how we process them and cope.

I just read something. Let me share it with you...

"A trust in God, the Creator, tends to alleviate stress, because it implies that he who is the Creator can handle any and all problems that may be leading to a stressful situation upon both the body and the mind...studies...show that people who have a faith in God, or even religious faith in general do better in situations of sickness and disease, and that overall improvement is associated with their faith and with prayer." 

The Biblical Foundations of Wellness

by Keith M. Henry ND 
See here

In my most challenging moments my mind automatically goes into conversation with God. Sometimes I consciously think, "I cannot find the words to say what I am feeling. Please understand without my words." 

My thoughts are brought forward from memories of the wisdoms of my mother and grandmothers and great aunts, for I was raised matrilinially. Yet patriarchy ruled. As long as I remember the women who raised me and the lessons they taught me, they will be alive for me, speak to me. And I will speak for them, stand for them, because society, their societies, would not allow them to speak unless they were willing to put in peril their good breeding, their social position.

Times have changed, but that has always been the case since the first humans settled in one place and began to collect possessions. 

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