Things don’t stay the same. We experience this in so many ways. People pass in and out of our life. We enjoy good health and endure sickness. Even nature undergoes a cycle of life and death each year. We make friends. We lose friends. We have time for rest and times when we have more than enough to do. As the scriptures tell us, there is a time for everything under heaven.
We can have several reactions to the changing nature of life, particularly when we experience loss. First, despair, depression, and feeling that life has no meaning. Or, secondly, we can react with gratitude and appreciation for what we have, living in the present moment with thanksgiving.
It is a healthy practice humanly and spiritually to notice and pay attention to the things in your life that delight you, big or small. Savor the experience, and share it with someone else. It’s a recipe for happiness.
The gift of faith makes a difference in how we look at life, because we have the conviction that we are destined for eternal life and that we are ultimately in good hands, because we are in God’s hands. This realization helped me deal with my father’s passing a number of years ago, knowing that even in death there is the blessing of eternal life. In the midst of life’s changes, God’s love remains constant.
“This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand.” (Mark 1:15)
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