Some people love change.  The newness of changed circumstances stimulates and excites them.  Others loathe change, which can frighten and overwhelm.  I tend toward the latter, though I am reconciled to the truth that change is both inevitable and frequent.  One reality on which both groups agree is that change disrupts.  Our perspective tells us whether that disruption is good or bad, positive or negative, welcome or to be shunned.  I also have learned the truth that change gives us the opportunity to reexamine who we are, what we do, and why we do it.  Why do I wash the laundry on Mondays and eat an enormous salad on Thursdays and only vacuum once a month?  Why did I eat my solitary dinners in front of the television?  Changed circumstances provide an opportunity to revise routines, and to discern and maintain the essential while escaping from old ruts.  Living with Mom and Dad, after six years alone, I no longer eat my dinner in front of the television screen—instead, I sit at the kitchen table and talk with Mom and Dad about the day.  Two habits I am working to strengthen are prayer to the Divine and time reading holy Writ.  Though I recognize the supernal value of both, I have always struggled to follow spiritual habits, maintaining discipline with stubborn irregularity.  My recent move disrupted all of my routines, from the side of the bed I curl up on to my practice of prayer.  I sense how important it is for me not to lose whatever little discipline I had harnessed before.  My success has been spotty.  But I will keep working at it.  For example, I read today about the Word in John chapter 1.

(Photo: Slickrock country in Moab, Utah.)