EARTHQUAKES

There is a lot of shifting in my life right now; changes, new opportunities being presented, old habits fading away...my feet feel the tremors as I try to keep balance while the plates shift. It's like an occupational earthquake.

This came up in impromptu conversation yesterday as a few of my co-workers gathered in my office. There are eight employees at this little church I work at; six of us are being laid off and then two new positions will be created to replace those six. Pastor J. is the one who will be leaving us first so I was surprised when he said, "Earthquakes are good! They stop  the earth from blowing itself up." He followed that with similar comments about how tornadoes help move topsoil and floods help create it. What we think of as disaster, is just the earth shaking things out and setting things right. It just is disaster to us because we build homes in the way of these things. We can't help it. And neither can the earth. It is alive after all and living things are always changing, going through the stages, following urges. So tension builds and it must be released or the earth will blow up. Even a tree, as it grows must break its outer bark in order to make room for the growth.

So I've been thinking about that; how earthquakes release tension that keeps the earth from blowing up.Over a long period of time there's been tension at this little church. They've had several pastors in a row and hired several new employees a few years back. Too many new people and ideas inside and around; the tension built even more. It was to bound to happen; the shift. they finally realized they couldn't afford this big staff. It was simply time for the plates beneath our feet to shift.

Change is bound to come. It seems we can't truly live and stay in one place unchanging. Change makes us feel uncomfortable. It brings the unfamiliar, the unknown and we all, in varying degrees, panic over the unknown. The tension builds as we make efforts to stop the change or adjust to it. And then it happens, we've reached the critical moment when the plates shift and suddenly things change even quicker. Often, in these situations, the end result is much more satisfying than we anticipated. Part of that is the release of the tension.

so I'm thinking I should just lean into the wobbliness and go with the shifting. It's just part of healthy life to have moments when everything shifts and moves. I do however look forward to when the dust settles and I can see what all this change has created and we can sweep away the dust and breathe easier.