Nothing Gold Can Stay

    Nature’s first green is gold,
    Her hardest hue to hold.
    Her early leaf’s a flower;
    But only so an hour.
    Then leaf subsides to leaf.
    So Eden sank to grief,
    So dawn goes down to day,
    Nothing gold can stay.
      ~ Robert Frost



Change.
I don't do well with it.
It's no secret.
I've admitted it a million times.

With some serious & deliberate retraining of my thought process,
I am making successful strides in changing this.
I am quite proud of myself.

For instance, James & I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary this past weekend.
We left on Thursday evening & returned on Sunday evening ...
a long weekend away, just the two of us.

And in my typical fashion, as I was packing to begin the trip, I was already hating to see it end.
Yes, you understood me correctly.
We hadn't even left to go on our trip & I was feeling a bit down,
knowing it would end far sooner than I'd be ready for it to.
Who does that, right?!

So, I determined right there in that moment to redirect my thoughts
& told myself that I would not entertain those feelings again.
{Usually the day before vacation ends, I start feeling morose that it's coming to a close.
That's just typical me.}

After all, all good things must come to an end.
If James didn't have a job to come back to,
we'd never have the funds to go anywhere to start with.
And my kiddos, I always miss them terribly when they aren't with us.
No, the mundane household activities that I come back to, like laundry, dishes, chores,
aren't nearly as exciting as a long weekend at the lake,
but those are important parts of my day-to-day life.
It's the familiarity of those activities that bring stability & security ...
& both of those are needed in my life, as well.

So, I'm learning as I age.
I'm seeing the big picture & accepting it instead of fighting against it.

I was challenged by a statement that a friend made a while back.
He said that he loved change.
I had never in my entire life heard anyone say that ...
in fact, it's always been adamantly the opposite.
People usually always say, "I hate change!"
He explained that he loves the excitement that comes with new things,
new places, & new activities.
He went on to say that he gets bored easily & likes variety.
It's going to happen anyway, so you may as well embrace it, he shared.

I have thought about this conversation many times.
It seemed like he took the 'negative edge' off change.
It's true ... not all change is bad or something to dread.
I like new things, new places, & new activities too.
So, thanks to him, I've been working on myself.
When a situation arises that is going to mess with my 'norm', I say to myself:  embrace change!
When something familiar begins to shift, I say to myself:  embrace change!
And guess what?
It has worked!

That's what I love so much about the Robert Frost poem, Nothing Gold Can Stay.
It's eight lines of simple truth.

Each season brings about change.
Find something beautiful about each one, for it will soon change to the next.
Love the morning or love the evening ... either way, one passes into the other in no time at all.
The same is true with life.

If you are in a season of pain or sadness, know that it's not going to last forever.
Same goes for seasons of happiness or success ... even those things will change.
Not to say you'll never be happy or sad ever again ... not at all.
It's just that life moves on.
Nothing stays the same forever.
What seems to be the end may just really be the beginning.

One of my very favorite quotes that I just found this year is by Gretchen Rubin:

The days are long, but the years are short.

I LOVE that, although it does make me a bit sad.
The days when I had twin boys not yet three years old & a brand new baby boy,
well, those days were long.
But when I realize that in a blink of an eye, 
those same three boys will be nineteen & sixteen soon,
let me tell you, the years are so, so short.

How do I make the most of this?
Live fully & purposefully ... that's what I've been trying to do.
Celebrate the little things, cause they really are the big things.
Don't wish the days away, even the sad days ... or the uneventful days ...
or the days full of laundry & chores.
Each day is a gift & will soon pass into the next.
Spend them being grateful.
A grateful heart & spirit is truly a medicine for life.
Count blessings ... be positive ... surround yourself with people who are the same.


PS) And one more thing about our anniversary, I CAN'T wait to show you  the pics
& tell you about where we went & what we did.
We had a wonderful time.
Stay tuned!

  


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