Embracing Change

For most people, it is difficult to embrace change.  When we are faced with situations that force us to change, resistance builds up inside of us.  Doubts and fears cloud our vision.  We fall back into old ways and habits.  How can we adapt?  Change is everywhere.  If you look around, seasons change, weather changes, people change.  As the old adage says, the only constant is change!

The other day I received a phone call from my brother.  "I finally got a job working for the county," he said, "But to keep it I have to stop drinking and smoking."

I had been telling him to give up those bad habits for years -- that his vices were killing him, but for some reason, he was unable to change.  Now that he had spent all of his savings, he was forced to find employment and face his demons.

"This could be the best thing that ever happened to you," I said.  "None of us are getting any younger.  You're 58, it's time for you to change."

My brother is at the beginning of his journey to sobriety.  I pray he reaches his goal.  His plight reminds me of a story Merrie, my yoga teacher told us after class the other day.

"I'm dedicating this class to one of my clients," she said, "an 87 year old woman who came to me a few weeks ago.  Her doctor told her she had to start exercising, or else.  She came to me for help.  During our first meeting, she complained that she hated to exercise.  I suggested we do fifteen minutes of yoga five times a week for two weeks.  Then, we would see how she was doing."

Two weeks later, after they finished 15 minutes of yoga, the lady asked, "Are we done already? That was so quick.  Can we go longer?" 

Merrie increased her yoga sessions to twenty minutes, then thirty.  When the woman returned to her doctor for a check up six weeks later, he was amazed at how much her circulation had improved.

As the Chinese proverb says, the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.  Change may be difficult, but we have to take the first step, then the next to make positive change.  Before we know it we've reached our destination.  Don't be afraid of change. Embrace it.  You'll be surprised at where it can lead you.

What's in a Name?

The name for this blog came as a flash of inspiration.  When I was born, my parents named me Hazel Ruth.  For some reason, perhaps because I was born in the forties in my grandmother's home in rural Georgia, my middle name was never recorded on my birth certificate.  I didn't learn about this omission until I was in my thirties and saw a copy of my birth certificate for the first time.  I could have dropped my middle name then, but I decided to keep it because it held special meaning even though I considered it to be old fashioned and outdated. 


In the First African Methodist Episcopal church I attended in in the little steel town of Steubenville, Ohio, my Sunday School teachers taught me about the Book of Ruth, which tells the story of Ruth and Naomi.  Naomi was married to Elimelich and they bore two sons, Chilion and Mahlon. Ruth married one of Naomi's sons.  When Naomi lost her husband and both sons, her daughters in law, Ruth and Orpah mourned with her.  Husbandless, childless, and poverty-stricken, Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem to live near her people and tells Orpah and Ruth to return to their families.  That is when Ruth utters those timeless words, "Whither though goest, I go.  Whither thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people; thy God my God."

Ruth found truth in her love for and loyalty to Naomi. The wisdom of her decision is borne out when she goes to the corn fields of Boaz, one of Elimelich's relatives, to glean corn.  When Naomi hears that Boaz finds favor in Ruth, Naomi directs her to go rest at his feet.  When Boaz awakens and finds Ruth sleeping at his feet, he falls in love with her and later, marries her.  Ruth is, thereby, able to provide not only for herself but for Naomi.

I don't know if I was named after the Biblical Ruth, but I've spent my whole life searching for Truth. Why was I born? What is my purpose? Who created the universe? Is there a God? My quest for Truth has always been deeply personal and shared with only my closest friends.  But now in my harvest season, I feel a need to share some of what I've learned. 

Don't get me wrong.  I don't claim to be a genius, a priest, a philosopher, a psychologist.  A teacher and poet perhaps, but nothing more.  In fact, the more I learn the less I know.  On my journey I've discovered some basic truths that are found in almost every religion.  These truths I am happy to share.  Take of them what you wish.  Discard the rest.  For in the end, every woman must find her own Truth.