I love the cooler temps and all the color of the changing foliage.
It is a time before nature sleeps. A change from the long hot days of summer to the cool mornings and evenings of fall. A time of slowing down, harvesting done, leaves falling covering the ground in hues of red, orange, gold and yellow. A time to reflect, to prepare for winter. And so change is here once again in nature and in my life
.
My mom spent a week in the hospital recently with the exit diagnosis of COPD, chronic bronchitis, and advanced asthma and I almost forgot emphysema too. She left the hospital on 4 liters of O2 - 24/7. A change - a big change for sure. She walked into the hospital and was discharged with the knowledge of never being without the O2, never driving again, never doing a lot of simple everyday things she was used to doing. At 80 mom is still good, able to care for herself and do the driving for her and her husband as well as all her paperwork etc... One trip to the ER and subsequent hospital stay has changed all that. No more caring for herself, driving, shopping, visiting etc. She and her husband have been moved in with my daughter and her family for the near future. Until we can find them a assisted facility to live in. We are in the process of packing up their life and putting it in storage. I am trying to go through and sort what needs to be packed and what needs to go. Mom wants everything packed but I know that she will never be able to be on her own again and so some things must go.
Packing up a life - two life's really. What to save - what to let go of??? So my heart is saddened and heavy.
History put in a box.
To be tucked away.
It all seems so final.
As I look back and ponder over all this, I know that this process has been happening for generations and generations - what is left of a life??? Is it only the "things" or "possession's" or the memories and influences of that life? Of course it is far more than the " things" it is the" life imprint" that is left.
This situation has made me look inside, to pause, to ponder, to think, to pray, to listen, to be grateful, to be sad, and to acknowledge the hurt. Many days ahead that I will not know which way is right, I pray that God will guide my every decision during this time of - change -.
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
I pray that my 'life imprint' will be more about the memories and influences I have been rather than the "things' that are left.
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