Adjusting

In honor of my contracting the flu, this seemed fairly appropriate to discuss.  Enjoy!

“You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash.

 Become like water my friend.”

~ Bruce Lee

The change of seasons brings and adjustment for everyone.  The leaves turn, becoming foliage for onlookers to see.  Animals start preparing for their winter endeavors under rocks and near streams.  People pull out their winter clothes and - more often than not - catch a cold.  It is not as cool as building a nest however it is a natural response to the temperature fluctuation.  But how can one get ready for the pending weather shift?  It seems that no pea coat or wool scarf could ever prepare for the first sensation of the chilled air. Combine it with a frigid, windy breeze and … well, how can we do more than adjust to the new circumstances? This does not mean that we will not have some emotions toward the new situation, only that we still have to move through them.

The same is the case when we are faced with major events that occur in our lives.  When we are suddenly given new tasks and duties at our jobs or are in the process of moving. When we are faced with the foreclosure of a home after years of unsuccessful maneuvers or the death of a loved one after a prolonged battled with a terminal illness.  We have prepared for the inevitable, rehearsed with role play exactly how we would respond, but nothing prepares us for that moment.  It is up to us to be malleable enough to evolve.

Christ was the master and the servant, the powerful and the weak, the teacher and the student, the sacrificer and the sacrifice.  To adapt to each of these on a daily, sometimes – in later life – hourly basis, require an understanding beyond the self.  “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).  It is not easy to walk in all the areas, however, necessary, no matter how uncomfortable we find the adjustment process.

Consider moments where we are adjusting and resist the urge to struggle against it, for it may only be preparation for the next level.