During my daily walk, I saw the fallen leaves, long gone, and glorious in their leaving, laying scattered thick on the ground, not surprised that I could see them all due to our lack of snow. I wasn't expecting these crunchy has beens to whisper encouragement and instruction to my soul but I listened.
You see, we all leave in many ways. I am not alone. Each of us are constantly being invited to stop clinging, clutching the old, and release ourselves to the wind into the new.
Falling from the tree into the unknown can be disorienting and scary. Where am I going? What will I become? Who will I be without my previous identity as part of a glorious tree? Will my story cease in my falling?
Here's the actuality. We all are a walking, breathing, dynamic system of releasing and being made new. It's happening right now even as you read this.
Unknown to you, osteoclasts inside you are breaking down your bone tissue, and osteoblasts are filling your bones with new skeletal material. And it's not just your bones being made new. Your stomach cells can renew as fast as every two days. Your skin cells every two to three weeks. Red blood cells, four months, white blood cells two days to a week. I am sad to report, fat cells linger and can last an average of ten years.
You are constantly being made new.
Yet, we clutch and cling to the old like a dog wearying a bone. We clench tightly outdated visions for ourselves we had when we were in our twenties and thirties. We fear change. We cling to theologies that we no longer really believe, fearful of being tagged a heretic. We clench our fists holding thoughts that no longer hold water. We clutch past definitions of success, significance, as if our very survival depended on it.
We are slow to realize the unfolding glory of our own personal, seasonal story. What looks like approaching death and darkness, is actually more life and light than we can imagine. Those of us who have lived in Alaska for decades know the truth of it.
Everything about you is changing. Unless your thoughts, visions, and paradigms change with your season, you will end up frustrated and depressed. Trust me, I know.
As we look to a new decade, find the new season in your life – come jump in the Mat Su Plunge on February 22, 2020 at Everett’s/Mat Su Resort and raise funds for a great cause. Register at www.matsuplunge.org.
To a renewed YOU in 2020!
