Changes

Lately I have been pondering change. there are many quotes to be found about it--check out quotegarden.com. David Bowie sings that "time may change me, but you can't change time". Arbys tells us that "change is good". I was never quite sure if they meant coinage or life in a state of flux.

• A year ago at this time, I spent my time looking at rescue dogs on PetFinder.com; now we are owned by a dog.


• A year ago I was working with people I have known for years; now, they are retired and I an one 0f the 'senior' employees there.


• Eleven months ago, I still had two girls; now I am the mother of a teenager, How'd that happen?


• Two months ago, I weighed 3 pounds less than I do now. No comment.

Last Sunday, we took a vote at church and in 3 months, we will no longer be a congregation going by the name that we have gone by for 150+ years; we will be a 'satellite' church of a larger one of our denomination. We will most likely be a core group of the same people but go by a new name and there will be new worshippers from the larger church 'planted' in ours to help us to grow. It is scary and exciting at the same time. For the last few months I have been telling myself and family members that this is similar to when a woman marries -- she changes her name but she is still the same person. Secnds later, I get all sentimental and maudlin about a name that will be changing. Then, I decide it is still a good thing as the leadership of this church has been handed down to myself and others and how it is now our turn to pray and reflect on what is best and what is God's Will for this body of believers. And, this will be the third name our church has had in 16 decades. So there.

• In the last 50 years, the church has gone from 200 members with a large Sunday School program to just my 2 kids and sometimes the kids of another family (except for hockey season when they are never there).


• In 50 years, we have built 2 additions to the building.


• In 50 years, we have gone from a part-time preacher to 9 full-time preachers and back to a part-time preacher.


• We have gone from 2 Sunday services and a Saturday evening service to one service attended by about 26 people weekly.


• We have gone from a congregation of descendants of the founders -- farmers and local merchants -- to worshippers from all walks of life and from all over the globe.

Changes? I guess there has always been change. Sometimes it's little things that you barely notice and sometimes, it's things that look majorly mind-blowing. One thing I know, it will always happen and all I can do is accept that and take it one day at a time.

Today I confess to being a bad blogger. OK, maybe not a bad blogger but probably a lazy, errant, forgetful, absentee blogger. I have 2 children (my main source for possible blog posts) who constantly warn me "Don't put that on your blog!", but since it's been so long since I posted, they don't say that anymore. Now they warn "Don't put that on Facebook!". And so, dear children, I think I will start posting on the blog again. Bwa-ha-ha-ha!
I will try to post at least once a month and it may be about the kids, or work, random thoughts, or haiku. I need to start writing again.
For starters, we are now owned by a dog. He is a cute little thing; rescued at 9 months, he came to live with us at 10 months of age. He has been with us since August of last year. He sleeps with hubby and me and is very considerate and sleeps by our feet and always the same direction as we are sleeping. Until last night. Actually, he slept in the right direction until 5 this morning when he decided he had to go outside and check out the snow levels. He woke up his favorite door-person, me, checked the snow level, watered it, and when we went back to bed, he decided to sleep crossways. Not a horrible problem since he is pretty small but he could've moved about 6 inches to the center of the bed! I couldn't get comfortable after a few minutes and ended up getting up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Now most days of the week, I am up and getting dressed at that time but this was a Saturday morning!
So today is the start of a brighter blogging future for me. Notice that I didn't write about any of the charmingly cute or royally annoying things the kids did, and if the dog continues to sleep crossways, you'll be finding many more posts from me.