Ok, I’ll admit it: I’m tired of change. Anyone else? I recently became aware that pandemic fatigue includes change fatigue. Can’t something just stay the same for a while? For example: the way we do church? School? Work? Public events?
Nope, not in the cards. Change is constant. Change is hard. Change is unpredictable. Change involves loss and sometimes fear. And when we are tired, our capacity to be flexible is limited. Instead of thinking about how we can be more open to change, I wonder if it would be interesting to think about when and how and where we experience being flexible? Then we might play with applying our joy in flexibility to our attitude toward change.
I love stretching my body. If I go for a day without stretching, I don’t feel well. As I age, I lose flexibility in my body, but when I stretch, I gain some of it back. It feels good and I can literally change my movements and my direction with more ease and grace.
How can I apply the joy of that bodily experience of stretching when new ideas and possibilities are presented to me? I can practice stretching my mind toward the edge of discomfort and discover spaciousness and possibilities that I never considered before.
Honestly, I’m not ready yet to embrace possibility, as our September theme invites. (You know I’m not much of a hugger!) But stretching toward possibility? Yes, I’m there. Moaning and groaning a bit, but I’m there. Anyone else?
Yours,
Dena McPhetres
Associate Minister