CHANGE IS INEVITABLE

Over the course of a lifetime we are transformed many times – born into new stages of life and dying to the last. We go from being an infant to a toddler, then child to adolescent, to young then mature adult, etc. We hardly notice as we are progressing from one phase to the next. We have no fear and we offer no resistance; we recognize the passage into each new stage of life not as a death but as a milestone to be celebrated. The underlying pattern here is this: change is inevitable. It doesn’t hurt to undergo these changes, and part of the reason may be that we offer no resistance.

Our dance partner as we go waltzing through life is death – and death is always in the lead. If we allow it to guide us we will glide over the dance floor with beauty and grace. If we introduce an element of fear, we will stumble. Can we learn to accept death without fear? As Nancy Gibbs says in an essay in Time Magazine referring to the death of her father: “While sorrow is certain, fear is not.”