I am borrowing a title from a Gino Vanelli song ( yeah the 70s) as a theme for this conversation.\u00a0 Percy Bysshe Shelly was among the first to memorialize this theme in his famous poem Mutability. \u00a0According to Shelly, \u201cnaught may endure but mutability.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0In essence, the only thing that lasts is change.\u00a0 This is a discomforting thought to many including me. As we go through life we develop \u00a0mastery of a subject or situation.\u00a0 But as the poets have reminded us, everything and everyone is constantly changing. As School children, we learn that every four years or so we start over.\u00a0 We master the monkey bars and recess, then we are moved to the bigger kid\u2019s part of the school.\u00a0 We master middle school or grammar school and lo and behold, we become High School Freshman, the bottom of the totem pole. \u00a0We repeat this pattern for most of our lives.\u00a0 After a while, you think we would understand, as Shelly told us, the only constant is change.<\/p>\n
Change is a scary concept.\u00a0 There are so many variables involved. Will I still be on top of my game? Will I be able to master the next step? Will I fail to meet the challenge?\u00a0 In the broad picture, those things really don\u2019t matter. What matters is that we embrace life in all of its aspects.\u00a0 As the Bible tells us, everything has a season.\u00a0 The only requirement is that you play the game to the best of your ability. The results are not as important as the effort.\u00a0 I know, as Americans, we are taught that we win at all costs. However, as with sports, the way in which you approach the game is what matters most. \u00a0If someone strikes out to end game seven of the World Series they can be remembered as someone who weakly gave up the inevitable loss or as someone who engaged in an epic battle with a pitcher who just came out on the wrong end of the battle.<\/p>\n
It is always the effort that matters most. I can recall vividly taking an exam that was extremely difficult.\u00a0 My professor posed a question to which there was no answer.\u00a0 The real test was would we stay true to his teachings and follow the approach that he taught us even if it led us to a dead end.\u00a0 Some of us did. We did the work, included all of the steps and concluded that the problem could not be solved.\u00a0 We received a B+ on the final for our efforts. Others panicked.\u00a0 They became frustrated at the lack of concrete results and figured they were doing something wrong and were going to fail because they could not find an answer. Their grades were considerably lower.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t be those guys. When the inevitable change comes, embrace it. Attack your changing circumstances with all of the techniques you have learned throughout your lifetime. Don\u2019t judge your changed circumstances as either a reward or a punishment, just accept it and work through it. The Universe is constantly evolving.\u00a0 We are citizens of this evolving Universe, so we too must evolve.\u00a0 Remember As Above, So Below.\u00a0 Let us not rail against the Universe, let us go with the flow and with that flow we will prosper even when it appears at first that we will not.\u00a0 Realize that it is all part of God\u2019s plan and that terrible thing that happened or the unexpected change that seems so unfair or horrible will lead us to a new place previously unimagined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am borrowing a title from a Gino Vanelli song ( yeah the 70s) as a theme for this conversation.\u00a0 Percy Bysshe Shelly was among the first to memorialize this theme in his famous poem Mutability. \u00a0According to Shelly, \u201cnaught may endure but mutability.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0In essence, the only thing that lasts is change.\u00a0 This is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":584,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n