The Environment Around Us

Urban myth says if you want to boil a frog, you must first put it in tepid water and then slowly let the water come to a boil.

If you just put a frog in a hot pot it's going to jump out, but if you let the water temperature rise at an even pace, then the frog will stay comfortable in his surroundings. Next thing you know, you're having frog soup.

This can be a kind of gross metaphor for some I know, but the lesson here is for us all.

We often do this to ourselves in the area of accepting our surroundings and changes until before we know it, we are in hot water.

We take the minor changes as inconvenient, and we push through the change. Before we know it, we have accepted more than we wanted and the landscape can be so different.

Near my home is a local mall that is being torn down.

While I haven't been there in many years due to its decline, I suppose it is a childhood hangout that has become a part of my past. That also means that now there will not be any buildings to remind me of the time in my life. I will now have to rely on my memory.

Change is often hard to take, however, I've found that if we find a way to make these transitions slow, they become less noticeable too. Then, by the time it has occurred - we have no say, and the change is so far in motion that there is no turning back. Like the frog.

Change is always going to happen.

The landscapes we love will differ from year to year slowly, but after a decade we will notice the difference if we have two pictures side by side.

The trees will be bigger, and the bushes too. If were on the shore, we will see the sand erode and the shore shrink. It's a slow fade. It's the kind of fade we must be aware of in our lives.

We will change too. Wrinkles will come, grey hairs will grow. Pounds will gather and we will slow down.

Be sober (pay attention) and be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.

1 Peter 5:8

Keep in mind that not all changes are bad.

We grow into our jobs and get promotions. We grow into wisdom so that we can advance and become better at what we are called to do. These changes are the changes we hope for.

It is the changes that we haven't prepared for that we must be ready for. Seek wisdom and always look before you make the next turn in life. Don't fall prey.