Change Happens

New is always demanding. Processes or relationships require paying attention to small details before habit or familiarity kicks in. Finally arriving at auto pilot is freeing.  Yet, that freedom can become stagnating. Fifteen trips to Peru require so little  focus on my part that I packed suitcase and backpack Sunday morning, did church, ate lunch, and left for the airport at 1:30 with everything I needed.

Yet changes have happened to the routine. I can print a boarding pass on line even for an international flight and only have to show my passport and check bag. White hair  allows me to wear jacket and shoes through security. The boarding area has been redecorated for modern times. Instead of comfortable chairs, I have to sit on feet hanging stools at charging stations with my belongings on the floor.

The location of our non-chain hotel is memorized. Bank Scotia on the corner is still a landmark,and inside the fence, the facade is the same. Each year welcomed improvements have been made. New rooms have been constructed. Warm blankets are under coverlets insteadof tattered quits. Most appreciated is the closing of air vents in the bathrooms which allowed all local noise of any kind to be shared with all three floors.

I am amazed that subtle changes have occurred at the mission site. Trash is lessened and swept to the end of a dirt street instead of piling in front of each house.  The one story house we bought as a base now had three stories. The inside is clean and  welcoming.  Local volunteers prepare the children’s lunches in new kitchen instead of on an antiquated stove in an area open to flies and dust.

The most affirming change is to people,  I am suddenly known by a name and can return the greeting to a once a year friend. Women listened to entreneurial classes. They make bracelets and baked goods to sell and add to family income. Dentists now clean children’s teeth instead of making extractions. A young man who grew up with a list of bad choices at the police station has a college degree and is back to help wh the community. Nothing happened in the twinkling of an eye. Just a few blinks, though, and a new normal is right in front of us.

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it.

Isaiah 43:19