Feathers
There is nothing more constant than change.
Heraclitus said that, or something like it, millennia ago. An oxymoron that has stood the test of time. As do most insights that should be brazenly obvious to anyone who doesn't live under a rock, the observations about life that make us look down and to the left and go, "Huh." How is it that truth is so profound?
There is much different in my sphere than just over two years ago, and seven years ago, and ten years ago, and fifteen years ago. The roller coaster of all these things I've dreamed about since I used to play the Life board game by myself so I could map things out exactly as they should go for me.
Some of them have.
Some of them have very, very not.
It's a timeline, life. Rather predictable for the homebody white American girl who resists change. Those important blips, the highlighted events, are for me mostly what you'd expect.
Graduate college and land a job.
Get married and settle into a home.
Have first kid. Realize you know nothing.
Have second kid. Realize it's OK that you know nothing.
Then at this point the events on the timeline sort of revolve around the kids because you have taken the whole "die to self" directive quite literally.
So, it's just normal. Probably boring to some but home to me. Blessed beyond measure indeed.
Amid all this predictability are two blips on my timeline that I never would have expected in a bazillion years. One is basically all of 2015, and I hate even bringing it up because years later the pain is still raw and I wish the whole thing could die a thousand deaths.
The other? It's now.
A few weeks ago something happened that has changed me as much as anything else in my life ever has. Eventually I'll be able to write more about it, but suffice it to say that it is good.
So very good. In so many ways.
And ever since that change, I've been seeing feathers. All shapes and sizes. Everywhere.
I haven't missed an opportunity to walk on the track at work during my lunch breaks, and it never fails that a feather will greet me somewhere on that journey. They're outside my car door or in a parking lot. Aden handed me one of the biggest I've seen on our lake adventure. Then yesterday, playing Frisbee in the yard with Trey, floating in front of my face was a fluffy white feather no bigger than my pinky nail.
After probably about a week of this, I decided that maybe the feathers are God's approval over the differences in my life. His way for now of reminding me how close He is, that I'm not forgotten.
I didn't know til very recently that there is a lot of folklore about feathers being associated with angels or the spirit, virtues like trust, honor, strength, wisdom, power, freedom. Which honestly fits what is going on. But if it fits, it's because of God.
The feathers appear, and I hear, "I got you."
He's got me. He loves me and I belong to Him. I believe it now more than I have in a long time.
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress,
My God, in Whom I trust.
Surely He will save you from the fowler's snare
And from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you will find refuge;
His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
Psalm 91:1-4
Thank you, Lord, for the feathers.
Heraclitus said that, or something like it, millennia ago. An oxymoron that has stood the test of time. As do most insights that should be brazenly obvious to anyone who doesn't live under a rock, the observations about life that make us look down and to the left and go, "Huh." How is it that truth is so profound?
There is much different in my sphere than just over two years ago, and seven years ago, and ten years ago, and fifteen years ago. The roller coaster of all these things I've dreamed about since I used to play the Life board game by myself so I could map things out exactly as they should go for me.
Some of them have.
Some of them have very, very not.
It's a timeline, life. Rather predictable for the homebody white American girl who resists change. Those important blips, the highlighted events, are for me mostly what you'd expect.
Graduate college and land a job.
Get married and settle into a home.
Have first kid. Realize you know nothing.
Have second kid. Realize it's OK that you know nothing.
Then at this point the events on the timeline sort of revolve around the kids because you have taken the whole "die to self" directive quite literally.
So, it's just normal. Probably boring to some but home to me. Blessed beyond measure indeed.
Amid all this predictability are two blips on my timeline that I never would have expected in a bazillion years. One is basically all of 2015, and I hate even bringing it up because years later the pain is still raw and I wish the whole thing could die a thousand deaths.
The other? It's now.
A few weeks ago something happened that has changed me as much as anything else in my life ever has. Eventually I'll be able to write more about it, but suffice it to say that it is good.
So very good. In so many ways.
And ever since that change, I've been seeing feathers. All shapes and sizes. Everywhere.
I haven't missed an opportunity to walk on the track at work during my lunch breaks, and it never fails that a feather will greet me somewhere on that journey. They're outside my car door or in a parking lot. Aden handed me one of the biggest I've seen on our lake adventure. Then yesterday, playing Frisbee in the yard with Trey, floating in front of my face was a fluffy white feather no bigger than my pinky nail.
After probably about a week of this, I decided that maybe the feathers are God's approval over the differences in my life. His way for now of reminding me how close He is, that I'm not forgotten.
I didn't know til very recently that there is a lot of folklore about feathers being associated with angels or the spirit, virtues like trust, honor, strength, wisdom, power, freedom. Which honestly fits what is going on. But if it fits, it's because of God.
The feathers appear, and I hear, "I got you."
He's got me. He loves me and I belong to Him. I believe it now more than I have in a long time.
Will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress,
My God, in Whom I trust.
Surely He will save you from the fowler's snare
And from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you will find refuge;
His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
Psalm 91:1-4
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