Adapt to survive

Talk about being adaptable!  My son has recently started a job which began with working a few hours a week - not enough to sign off from receiving Job Seekers' Allowance.  You need to work for over 16 hours a week to do that.  He enjoys the job and has been wanting to increase his hours.  His manager has also been doing his best to find him more hours as he wants to keep him in the job and not lose him if he finds something else with more hours.  Last weekend he started work at 4 am.  On Monday he was asked to go in for 5 am but on Saturday was asked to change that to 11 am.  One day he had to be there for 1 pm and another for 10 am.  This weekend his starting time is 10 am til late.  At the moment he is covering for others who are on holiday or off sick.  Hopefully it won't be too long before his working week will be sorted and take on a more settled routine so we will not be wondering what each day will bring.  So this week our sleeping and mealtime habits have certainly NOT been habitual.


Looking in the garden this week, especially after the big storm we had the other night, it is apparent that things are really changing.  For one thing part of our fence blew down!  That is going to be repaired soon (I hope).  What has changed and I can't do anything about is the lack of leaves now on the trees.  Autumn is a time when nature adapts ready for the winter.  Some things need to go in order to conserve energy for what is to come.  Trees shed their leaves and plants seem to die but all the time they are building up their reserves ready to burst out again in the Spring. 

A bearded tit

This week we have also been able to watch Autumnwatch - a favourite programme in our house.  Their theme has been migration and has followed many birds as they prepare to move further south for the winter, some having already gone.  Young birds, born only this Spring are flying, some non-stop, for thousands of miles.  After having spent most of their lives to date in the nest, life is really changing for them.  They also tagged and followed a number of foxes.  Some of their habitats have been taken over by humans and so they are having to adapt to urban living.  Other birds like the bearded tit have to adapt their eating habits as their diet changes from insects and worms to seeds and berries.  They eat small pieces of grit to help in this.


It is the very nature of creation to change and adapt according to the circumstances. My life now is not the same as my life was 10 years ago, or even 5 years ago.  But God is still relevant to my situation, now.  Life happens!  Life makes us make changes - this is how God has ordained things.  We need to adapt to changes in our lives to cope with new technology and ways of doing things.  It just seems a shame that people don't follow the natural laws of creation into their spiritual lives.  I remember when quite young and asking why things in our denomination were done in a certain way and the answer was 'We've always done it that way!'  Maybe that's a good reason to change!  When a movement fails to adapt and change then it is no longer moving. It has becomes an institution.  People who don't profess any religion, often get the impression that God is not relevant to 21st century living.  And sadly the Church as a whole has contributed in giving this impression.  Some Christian groups are proactive in changing but others are not.  Some fear that change will mean a watered down gospel or that their particular group will cease to exist and so they don't want to change.  This is unnatural in God's creation and in our daily lives.  Creation adapts in order to survive.  Nature shows us that adapting and changing may mean no longer doing things we used to do but it does mean doing things effectively for what is to be in the future.  It may seem to be a sort of dying as we let go of the old but it is a doorway to something new and better.  If God is relevant today then we need to express Him in 21st century ways and not keep Him enclosed in an old, out-of-date box.