They just rang the bell to call everyone to service and for a brief moment even the birds were quiet. The sound remains of the many calls to service I heard throughout my life. Some with many you out there reading, that remember the services we attended together. But that was a lifetime ago and unlike an old snapshot things change. For the good or the bad, time marches on and we never really stay the same. Environment and/or circumstance often change our attitudes and opinions of a great many things.
As much as I like to think that I haven’t really changed, it would be foolish to think that I have not. For as with age, the birth of a child, or changes in social standing. All things change. But at its core it’s that little nugget of fear at the bottom of our brain that pushes us forward. For better or for worse, it conditions us to look for the familiar to look for home. I guess what I’m trying to say is, don’t fear the change. Embrace the good as well as the bad and learn from it. Gain from it understanding and compassion we all need to survive.