Tether

For some people, the thought of the new year brings about the chance to take stock of what has gone on the year before and to make plans for the coming year. This little break in the cycle of our everyday lives gives us a breather from our otherwise hectic pace. And so our social media accounts are rife with throwback photographs of the year and encouraging messages for new beginnings.

I think this might be our way of coping with the undeniable reality that we are in a constant state of flux. Technology moves at breakneck speed so that things must be updated all the time. The economy is always on the brink of either disaster or fortune. And in politics, loyalties can change as often as outfits can. Even our bodies are in a continuous state of cells living and dying all at once. From one moment to the next, we are never the same.

Which is why I realize that it becomes increasingly important to tether myself to what can give me constancy – faith, family, friends. And yet, the ironic thing is, those things are also in a state of flux. While it is true that God never changes, my relationship with Him certainly does. There are moments of such extreme clarity and surreal grace that all can seem so well with the world. And there are days too, of darkness and doubt, where His seeming absence becomes oppressive. But I hold on to the belief that God holds on to my tether more tightly than I ever will.

Even relationships that I’ve always thought would anchor me have had to change. As my parents age and my friends pursue dreams or simply make new choices, we’ve had to redefine who we are to each other. Every now and then, we loosen the tether so that people can grow and change and move farther from us than we’re comfortable with. Because we know that if we do not give them room to breathe and space to grow, we cannot expect them to stay the course with us. This constant state of holding on and letting go can be quite exhausting if we are not comforted by love – a deep, abiding but imperfect love that always seeks the good of the other.

We content ourselves with this, then, that the impermanency of all things in this world is still anchored in the constancy of the next. That God is real. That He never changes. And that while love itself evolves and changes, it can still tether us as we go about from one day to the next.