Baxter doesn't play much anymore. Occasionally, he will bat around a toy filled with catnip, but usually this lasts for only a short time. He is much more settled and calm than in his younger years. He has his daily routines. He likes looking out the window, playing fetch for treats, and once in a while, exploring the basement or garage to be sure it is still there. Generally, the ordinary is enough for him. He isn’t looking for a new adventure all the time as he did when he was a kitten. He is happy with the normal things that keep him going through the day. He has matured from a mischievous kitten and feisty, young feline, to a peaceful, reflective older cat.
We change too. Sometimes we don’t notice it happening, but we do. We lose interest in certain activities, and gain it in others. We make new friends, not to dismiss the old ones, but our work, neighborhood or interests bring different people into our lives. We change with our physical health. Sickness or injury slows us down. Health and fitness charge our energy, and both will change our disposition, for better or worse. Families change too. People are born; others grow up and leave the nest; loved ones die; part of the family moves away; marriages bring new members into the fold. All of these occurrences change our lives and us in the process. We sometimes try to resist the change, but even that response will change us.
God is in this movement. He has shown us in Jesus’ life how He moves with us. From birth to death and beyond, Jesus’ story unfolds like our life stories. He is on the move to different places, with different people, in different conditions of life. He has His constant companions, but even these change in the course of the story. Sometimes they are skeptical, sometimes open to His teachings, sometimes amazed and sometimes disappointed. Finally, they abandon Him. Jesus encounters praise and admiration, controversy and opposition. Even His prayer changes. At times He goes off on His own for peace and reassurance from the Father, but later He invites His disciples to share His agony in prayer in the garden. Jesus is caught in the same stream of human life we experience, and here is where we see Him reveal God to us.
There is a deep, divine mystery unfolding through the changes accounted in the Gospel stories. Sometimes it is obvious, for instance, in Jesus’ miracles where God’s power breaks forth. Sometimes it is subtle, like Jesus’ forgiveness and parables. The disciples sense this presence, but they are not sure what to make of it most of the time. It has so many facets as the story moves on, and just when they think they understand how God is at work in this man, they are surprised, baffled or confounded. The mystery moves with and through the story which reaches its climax in Christ’s death and resurrection. But then it continues to move and change, as the Spirit leads the Church to reach out to new peoples in foreign lands beyond the Law of Judaism. These changes are not the enemy of the faith, but the vehicle to broaden and deepen the disciples’ faith as they have to deal with the new circumstances of their life with God.
And the story continues in our day. The same divine mystery moves through our lives, and we must learn what the first disciples had to learn. Do not be afraid of the changes. Do not concentrate on what is lost from the past, but look to what God is doing now and into the future. Cherish what we were given previously as a life vest to support us in the waters we face now. But keep moving with the current for we will discover it is full of grace, new life and hope as Mary did at the Annunciation and the whole Church did at Easter and Pentecost.
Things have changed for Baxter. He plays less and cuddles more. We understand each other’s ways better. We anticipate each other’s habits, likes and dislikes. The same kind of thing can happen between ourselves and God, if we move with the changes life brings and discover the grace they hold.
