It was a strange set of circumstances that combined to fill my time last week. The death of someone of familial importance, and a visit from my kindergarten Sunday School teacher collided with what life is now... full of parenting, work, ministry, and more. A hurried visit from my mother quickly brought to mind many things from both time periods... fluidly moving me from now to then and back again.

The smell of cattle in the fall always flashes me back to a simpler time in life. This time was no different. Our trip to the funeral of that family member this past weekend was laced with people I have known my whole life, scents that have long meant home, and time spent in a place that likely never will be again. Returning to the present to do life and community in new and healing ways, I very tangibly became aware just how much change can happen in the grand scheme of things even when it feels like so much is standing still each day.

And now, as a new week begins, as life marches on... love scatters on the winds of change. Moving outward from a life lived authentically and intentionally in pursuit of health. Moving inward from everywhere that other people are doing the same.

May the fruits of life always be such. Sometimes in hard lines that say "No more" to the systems and structures that do harm, hide harm, and allow harm... and sometimes in soft smiles and comforting presence... always, only love.

I'm calling it a night. Tomorrow is a new day... and from these wee hours of today it seems far away. But I don't know what change it holds... and in that truth is the hope of a lifetime.

From my tiny fish pond to your heart... look for the beauty in change today. If it never happened, the flowers couldn't bloom.

I love you, friends.