A Time For Everything

Fall morning air blanketed the city, sweaters retrieved from drawers, closets. Morning sun gleamed through front windshield, an energy pill for the Northwest spirit. As I made my way down 82nd Ave, I glanced right and left, recognizing the changes in landscape. This an avenue I've traversed since the year I turned sixteen and my brother taught me the rudiments of driving a car.

 

He had me turn in circles, brake, practice red light green light. The knob on the dashboard used for rock'n'roll music, The Beatles, Steppenwolf. He instructed me in the parking lot of Bazaar Department Store. The store is no longer there, along with many other businesses that collectively store up memories for us who have lived on this side of town for eons. It's not a long stretch of forever change, but enough that my mind swirled as I drove, noticing one after another, buildings replaced, some dilapidated, others gone for a number of years already. Change is good and so are recollections that bring an affectionate smile, parting a wrinkle or two. Did I really wear only black that Christmas at Lipman's, me a high-schooler working the counter in the infant clothing section? And now Walmart holds court in same patch of land? The Eastgate Theatre now a church, built when I was in grade school. How can that be? 

 

Maybe it was the brightness of the day, the freedom of the moment, or the past rendering itself present, it caused a swell inside, those grateful reflections that give tender pause to the moment. And just as the color of leaves convert to majestic reds and blazing oranges in Autumn, I know nothing remains the same and the Bible is right; there is a season for everything.

 

Time is so precious that it is dealt out to us only in the smallest possible fractions--a tiny moment at a time. ~Irish Proverb~

When the past surrenders itself to the possibility of now; a transaction takes place, and a metamorphosis transpires. Freedom takes flight.

In the heart of any real change is the desire to always do your best for God.

Reaching for the light always involves a choice; embrace what is now, letting go of what used to be.

 

Maybe it's all about noticing the changes, continually thanking God for all that went before, then taking that next step, boldly entering the new season in awestruck wonder.

 

There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens.

~Solomon~