Un-crated

Proud puppy on the remains of the dog bed...

Time moves on; and with each new day or season we see life evolving around us.

Some changes may appear to be quick, but are often simply the culmination of a period of gradual change. Others, we recognise the way things have been leading and guided in that direction.

Rites often acknowledge change. Graduations signify the completion of academic requirements; the “I do”s in a wedding are exchanged after substantial time getting to the marriage ceremony; getting that promotion often hides the countless hours of toil and commitment.

Rites don’t have to be the large public ceremonies; sometimes they can mark smaller milestones – but milestones they are. And sometimes, the effect of those changes is inevitable, yet can still be surprising.

Several weeks ago, Shadow (puppy) stopped going into his crate when I left the house. He’d learned enough about what was for dogs and what was not; he seemed safe beyond the confines of the crate. I gradually increased the amounts of time he was without human supervision, and aside from de-stuffing some dog toys (and one dog bed), he’s been entirely fine.

Just this week, however, the real change was marked. I took away his crate. It was no longer being used, and it seems he’s also grown beyond where it would be comfortable for him. Down to storage it went; marking a particular point in his life.

Despite this being a good thing, he struggled with the change, and regularly ventured to its former location with curiosity.

How very normal! So many of us get accustomed to one way of being, and even when a change is good for us, showing growth and development, we can miss what was. We wouldn’t want to go back, and we don’t regret the change, but we can long for what was.

These times, I find, give us the chance to be grateful. We look back, reminisce, and appreciate what was; all the while being intentional to be fully present in the here and now. After all, the blessings in our life continue to flow; and at some point in the future we’ll be reminiscing about our lives now.

So let’s mark the moments that matter – the adventures, the joys, the ordinary moments that love makes extraordinary. For as time continues on, our lives change. We can choose to embrace the inevitable change as a grace.

A Flowery Reflection

I have a lovely butterwort plant, that normally sits in my kitchen window. It’s a cute little carnivore that generally minds its own business (until some small flies get stuck in its sticky leaves. They generally don’t like direct sun, but mine tends to be happy with what it gets.

Every once in a while, it flowers. It’s not often, and I was told it’s really not common for a domesticated plant such as this.

Apparently, however, my plant is happy. It currently is bragging three lovely blooms, with 2 more on the way. The joy of the flowers of a butterwort is they come up on very long stems, such that they flutter in the breeze without getting caught in the sticky, hungry, leaves.

Part of the reality of the long flower stems is this allows for a lot of movement. They sway in the tiniest of breezes, the petals flutter seemingly just for fun (or as an attractant for dinner). The flower heads themselves are constantly aligning themselves to be facing the sun. They can rotate 180 degrees in a single day if they’re moved. It’s almost as if they have chosen a focus area, and ensure to keep that as their focus.

My reflection on my little plant this morning is on that focus. The plant is doing other things while it adjusts the flowerhead focus, but the lesson may be in the intentionality and commitment to maintain that focus.

Imagine what might be possible if we kept our focus on the things that are most important in our lives: our faith, our relationships, our ministries… imagine if we ensured that all other things were happening as well, but were intentional about keeping our lives thus aligned?

Perhaps we might then be as happy and prolific as the flowers gracing my windowsill: offering the beauty that they can in the best way that they know.

Opening the Scriptures

For years, we’ve understood that we all learn different ways. Some are visual, and benefit from seeing things written out. Others are auditory, who glean understanding from hearing things explained. Still others are kinetic, where movement provides the primary focus for learning.

These are not hard-set categories, as our learning styles will lean into all three modes; they are intended as general guidelines. Information that can help us better understand ourselves, so we can do our best.

I am primarily a kinetic learner – a helpful piece of self-awareness as I engage in sermon preparation - meaning I can often find connection to readings based on movement: I can remember what side of a page a quote is on, I can find a passage in a book by recounting where I was when I read it (was I at the office? Was I outside, and was the sun on my feet?), I can recall conversations by what pen might have been in my hand. It’s a full-on experience.

What seldom happens for me, however, is hearing the words read aloud. This engages a different part of my brain, and uses a different pattern for establishing memory.

This means that our practice of reading scripture aloud during worship grants me a fantastic opportunity to perceive the word in new ways – lines jump out at me, ideas dance through my imagination, visualisations emerge.

As we have the scripture written in our bulletin, it means I can follow along while having this auditory blessing – and I find I mark words or phrases, and at times take notes or create doodles, as something lights up in my cranium as interesting and worth future consideration (while wanting to remain fully in the moment!)

The church has long offered the gift of finding ways to engage a variety of experiential learning opportunities. We can use commentaries and interact with one another in study, we can explore a variety of translations or even immerse ourselves in different language bibles.

Given that we know the efficacy of these many ways to dive deeper in the daily or weekly scripture, I wonder what else might be possible to open the word of God to all that would hear it?