When you walk in the woods, it is interesting to see the direction waterways take, and why those riverlets take those directions. Sometimes a beaver dam gets in the way. At other times it's a fallen tree or human interaction by way of engineering or building. Storms also alter waterways by sometimes flooding brooks and creeks into small ponds. Waterways, like our lives, take on different shapes and directions due to multiple factors. These new shapes and directions are not necessarily better or worse, but instead, different. Often the changes in our lives mirror these changing waterways with change that is neither good nor bad, but simply different.
This metaphor speaks to me on this spring morning as my life takes on a new shape and direction. The bright sunlight outside seems to confirm that the change is good. This has happened to me before in life. I've been steadfast and determined on a life path when at once I meet an impasse that sends me in a different direction. I've always heeded the signs of change in time, and looking back, I know that has been the right thing to do.
Sometimes we don't fully understand why our paths change and how that change affects us and all around us. That's part of the great mystery and chaos of life--there are always a multitude of active factors at play in every moment of life, and how all those factors intersect is beyond our ability to know at this time and likely for all time.
But to heed the signs that exist within and around us is a good source of direction, one that's best not to ignore.
Life's backpack is a little lighter as I take this turn in the road, but I'm confident it is the right choice. Onward.