Coping With Change

           The neighbor who lived in the house directly behind ours has moved to another community. Her house sits vacant now, not that we could see anyone when it was inhabited. She had lovingly welcomed all seeds that sprouted in her yard over the years, transplanting things that were growing too close together and bringing in new plants whenever there was a little space available.

 I never asked her, but I’ll bet that she had a name for each living thing on her property. To cut down a tree was taboo…When we had two large silver maple trees removed from our backyard, she never said a word, only registered a look of shock on her face.

We met just after Al and I moved in to the neighborhood in 2017. The fervent barking of our two dogs alerted me that something was unusual; so, I walked over to the back fence separating our yard from the one directly behind us and was startled by a person crawling through a hole in the cemetery fence that runs along one side of the two properties.

It turned out to be our neighbor, who assured me that she was not an intruder, but had been taking a walk in the cemetery. The hole in the fence was her “private” entrance, usually covered up with a piece of chicken wire.

 When our neighbor told me almost two years ago that she was moving, I felt sad. Our conversations over the back fence and visits would be missed. It took a long time for her to get things cleared out of her well-established home though. In August, the project was finally completed, house was sold…and then she was gone, leaving behind her “secret garden.”

Al and I wondered what would happen, especially when she informed us that the new owners were going to remodel the house and then put it back on the market, a “flip,” the same as ours. We had more of an idea of what was to come when one of the men told us that he planned on putting in a lawn with a sprinkler system in the backyard!

 A lawn? The tiny space behind the house was deeply covered in ivy, with a number of evergreens and a variety of trees, some of which had grown very large over time. In fact, very little of the house could be seen from our south facing windows. The abundance of Michigan rainfall helped too; so, without any interference over a long period of time,  things had taken their natural course.

Frequent visitors came through her property—deer, racoons, chipmunks and squirrels. The latter could make their way from one side of the backyard to the other without touching the ground, the canopy of trees was so dense. The only way a lawn would happen was if everything was bulldozed down to bare dirt.

And, that is exactly what happened! A bulldozer arrived one Friday afternoon; and by the end of the weekend both front and back yards were bare. Only big piles of brush remained. Knowing how our former neighbor would have felt if she could have seen it, made me  depressed.

Now, whenever I look over the back fence, a wave of sadness comes over me, even though I know that eventually new landscaping will be put in and that the memory of the yard in its natural state will gradually fade away.

Changing circumstances are hard to accept, especially when those circumstances are outside of our control. It’s far more comfortable to hang on to the old ways, to that with which we are familiar. And doesn’t it seem like the world around us is changing fast, too fast for our liking?

 Looking to the Bible stories of the great fathers of our faith like Noah, Moses, Abraham, David and to those in the New Testament, like Peter, John and Paul brings encouragement. Looking to followers of Christ in centuries past, as well as in the present gives us support. 

Over all of this, knowing that Jesus never changes brings consolation and hope. His lovingkindness and faithfulness, mercy and grace, wisdom and trustworthiness never fail.  In all of the turbulence of life, He is our anchor. Take heart!

“Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13: 7-8 NIV