Change

A saying is that everyone thinks they have a book in them, This may be mine. I have several weeks worth of looking at change. Like turning a kaleidoscope, varied twists cause change and different patterns appear in result. Today, think of seasons. Factoid: I am a geography minor. One of my favorite times is to stand in front of sixth graders and with a ruler and a globe explain earth tilt and daylight and seasons. If even one face lights up with understanding, I feel justified for including it in the curriculum. A side result of this is I have never wanted to live at the equator. Even if just a small dose comes, I want to experience the change.

This year that forerunner of fall came on the date of the Autumnal Equinox, a wonderful phrase! Though ice had not made it to the valleys, snow had already come to the mountains of Colorado, even while Houston still had 80 degrees at daybreak with humidity above that number. When I opened the door into pre-dawn, I knew things were different Coolness caressed my cheek and I didn’t break into a sweat just getting the paper. Past experience decreed this wouldn’t be permanent, yet I imaged sweaters in a bin wiggling in anticipation of coming out once more.

More subtile changes. A cheer for the welcome knowledge that hurricane season is over – probably. Flowering plants need deadheading unless the seedpods are left to drop into the ground and begin that cycle for the time we long for a season of warmth instead of cool. Politicians in charge puff up with importance when they declare a day of time change, though truly the sun’s circle just goes on as usual. What we call it doesn’t make a bit of difference.

For this season, activities change. Children have begun school, albeit different this year. Forget the personification given to sweaters. With anticipation, humans who own blankets and jackets start checking where they were put away at the end of the previous season in order to ready them for another useful moment. Meals become more substantial to provide fuel for more demanding days. Hopefully, this season of unsettledness will also change. Stay tuned for another take. I feel a migration coming on!

He (God) changes times and season; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.

Daniel 2:21