Facing Changes

We took down our Christmas tree last night. The guys pushed and pulled the giant tree out through the sliding glass door. Then my sweet husband propped the massive tree up against my clothesline post so that I could continue to enjoy it outside the window.


When the frigid weather returns, I will toss birdseed into its boughs for my feathered friends. The tree will offer the birds shelter from the wind and snow, and thus its usefulness will continue throughout the season.


Our sons have gone back to college. The younger one left just this morning, with a grocery sack full of home-cooked food for the days ahead (including freshly baked chocolate chip cookies!) The house seems empty and quiet again.

I am very aware of change today. All of the preparation for the holidays and having our sons home from college has ended and life is back to a daily routine. Light snow is falling outside my window, though heavy rains fell through the night, melting much of the existing snow and ridding our driveway of ice. Change seems to be everywhere.

I have much to do today with putting away the ornaments and reorganizing our living spaces. This is an opportunity for me to keep very busy and not think too much about missing my boys. I see this busyness as a blessing.

Endings can create new beginnings. Change is the one constant in our lives. And with acceptance we move forward into what is yet to come.

I don’t know how I will handle being an “empty nester” when it happens . This house is too big and too quiet already. I know that somehow, God will be in those changes, too. Maybe I will be a grandmother by then (!), or perhaps my career will involve some travel so that I am not always home in the empty house.

Whatever the future holds, I know that God will be there with me. Through every change and new beginning, He is either beside me or leading the way. I follow gladly and lean on Him for support. My prayer continues to be, “All that I am, and all that I am meant to be, let it be in Your will for me.”

I go forward trusting that God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. So if change is a constant, so is the presence of the One who can carry me when I am too weak to stand; the One who gently reminds me of His love every day, and shows me the way I should live.

Enjoy this video of beautiful pictures & Mark Schultz singing 

"He Will Carry Me"

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