What's the Difference Between a Rut and a Grave?

I am beginning another new venture. It's something I did, a very long time ago, but I enjoyed it and I think I will enjoy it again. It involved working with people of all ages so that makes it a good thing. It involves my faith, so that also makes it even better. It's not like I needed something to fill my time, because my time really is full with all the activities I have taken on over the past five or six months, but I needed a little something to bring in some money and this will do that very nicely. Another thing that I love added to the 'pot.' Life is really good!

So, no one would ever accuse me of being in a rut. I don't like it when things stay the same too long. Ask my son, he hates it when I move the furniture around, which I do on a fairly regular basis. It's like having a whole new place! I haven't moved the furniture in the new place yet, but I'm thinking....and he knows it. He understands that it's been quite a while for me to have things in exactly the same places that they were when we first moved in. What he doesn't know is that I have moved a few things while he wasn't home and then put them back. I didn't like it, but one day, really soon, it's going to be fruit-basket-upset at our house and everything will be different. I will love it. He'll grow to accept it. It's not like he'll be living here that much longer anyway. And then just think how often I can move things!

Isn't it funny how 'set in their ways' people become? It doesn't seem to matter the age, there are just some people who are very uncomfortable with change of any kind. My son was always this way, even when he was very little. He needed the comfort of the same routine, the same blanky. He liked to visit relatives but he preferred to be home with his toys, his room, his bed. It's interesting to me that in his own space downstairs, there is very little that remains the same. He is always moving his things around, but upstairs in the space that we share with things that have been here his whole life, he likes the consistency of the environment. Maybe there's a little bit of me in there, after all. Please don't tell him that!

This new project that I'm starting involves working with people, something I've done my entire life. I will be working in an institution that is one of the oldest in Nebraska. Traditions will be very ingrained and I will have to tread lightly. I will have to really listen and understand when people share with me their goals and dreams so that I don't trample on a lifetime of experiences. But I also want to be a catalyst for growth. Tradition is good. I love it! In my home you will find a multitude of furniture and pictures handed down to me by family members from many generations. They are pieces that will never leave my family. I love having them here (the family and their possessions), but I never want to stop growing, stop learning.

I can't get so caught up in the past that I lose sight of the future. I think it's a fine line to walk...embracing the lessons learned by those gone before me while looking for new lessons to come. My intentions are to take it slowly, get to know these people and really understand them, listen to them, and then grow with them. I have no doubt that it will not be easy. Working with people never is. But I also know that if I listen, both to the people I'm working with and to that little voice of God inside of me, we will weather the storms together and come out better on the other side.

I'm excited about this new job, this new experience. It will allow me to continue all the other things I'm currently doing and add one more piece to my life. They say that the only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth of each. There may be a few ruts, but no graves here! How about you?