I think change is all a matter of perspective. How one person accepts and adapts is different from another. I think about weather and seasonal changes. They are going to happen no matter what.
We didn’t really have well defined seasons in South Florida. Summer was a time of fun. We would go out in the boat or go swimming in the bay. The best thing about summer was three months without school!! Summer, as in most areas of the country was fun. One thing we did not do was camping in the summer for a couple of reasons. One, it was stiffening hot and humid. Two, Mosquitoes! Summer was also known as mosquito season, so you steered clear of the woods. To say they were horrible would be an understatement. Summer also brought the most exciting time for a child…. hurricane Season. My mom made hurricanes exciting. Boarding up the windows, eating by candlelight, cooking meals over sterno stoves. Temperature would drop several days before a storm hit and it would be such a great relief from the hot humidity and mosquitoes. Hurricanes were fun when I was a kid, not so much fun now that I’m an adult, but my mom adapted and made it a fun time for us.
Hurricanes served a huge boost to the water table in South Florida. They were needed and still are. The ecology is dependent on this one change. I’m not so sure what purpose the mosquitoes served. Well, after hurricane and mosquito season, came “Not Summer”. The temps would drop from the upper 90s to the frigid 60s. Our jackets were flannel shirts over our t-shirts, which ended up tied around our waist by mid-morning. It was a welcomed change but not to the farmers.
Temperatures could drop into the thirties during the wee hours of the morning putting crops in danger.
Spring was everglades burning season. No change in temperature, but the dry season brought fires. I miss the smell of the glades burning. “Spring” was also the time for the land crab migration. The worst, most nightmarish scene in the world was when millions upon millions of crabs left the mangroves and marched to their deaths across highways, and other man made obstacles.
However, we made it fun as we rode our bikes and picked them off one by one with our slingshots.
Crabs and glades burning is a very important part of the eco system for South Florida, the change was good.
Crabs and glades burning ushered in the summer which meant “No School”. It made the heat and mosquitoes all worth it. The change in our seasons was subtle. Nothing really in the temp changed much, but there was change. Some was great, like no mosquitoes, some were not, like hurricanes. But the changes were welcome.
Eastern Hills is in for some exciting new times. There will inevitably be changes. We will all have to adapt. We may have to leave our comfortable pews and Sunday school classes and help teach somewhere. Growth is going to mean people. People will mean more teachers. Just this week we have added our second new class for preschoolers since Easter. This means we need more worship care teachers.
We all want change! We all want growth! Do we want it bad enough to help?
Hosea 10:12
“Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that He may come and rain righteousness upon you.”