Change is something that most of us do not deal with well.
But have we ever stopped long enough to look for the positive in a change in our lives that from the outside only looks hopeless?
Just take a few minutes to read on and see how change can be something positive for us if we let it.

You are a leaf......

You feel refreshed and renewed by the spring rains.  You are all nice and green and healthy and happy.  You are firmly hanging on to your tree, your lifeline, your supporter,  your G*D, or Higher Power, or whatever or whomever you get support from.  You have made friends with all the other leaves around you and enjoy spending the days visiting with them.  You aren't thinking about what lies ahead for you at this moment. You make it through the spring rains and winds just fine.  Then comes the dry hot summertime.  You draw from your strength source to keep you alive, after all that is what it is there for.  You soak up all the moisture that comes your way in an effort to not end up all dry and crumbled on the ground below.  You think, man I don't like this hot dry summer, I wish it would rain and cool off before I loose my grip and fall to the ground.  You frown. Finally after months of summer conditions the rains and storms do come.  You hang on through it all and regain your strength.  You are smiling again and are feeling good about things. Then one day you happen to look down at yourself and see that there is some yellow creeping up around the edges.  What's this, you say.  Not something else I will have to endure.  You look around and see that all the other leaves are also turning yellow and people are starting to walk by and point at you and your leaf friends and say, "Hey look, the leaves are starting to change color."
Well, you don't like this one bit and you frown again.
Then just when you got used to being mostly yellow, you look down and see some orange creeping up on the yellow.  Oh my, you think.  This can not be a good sign.  You breathe a heavy sigh and maintain your frown.  There is a man and a little girl who have stopped to look at you and your friends.  The little girl tells her daddy that she would like to have a leaf to take home and show here mommy.  So the daddy lifts her up to pluck a leaf from the tree.....Oh man, that was close, that little girl almost picked me, you think.  But why did she want to take one of us home?  Your leaf friend next to you says, It's because people think we are beautiful when we change colors.  Your only response is, Oh.
You hang there swaying in the fall breeze thinking back over the seasons and all that you have had to do to survive, feeling as though nothing positive could come of your being on this planet, feeling sorry for yourself for all your trials and tribulations.  But you are thinking about what your friend said about people thinking that you are beautiful as you are changing colors.  There is that word again, change, can it be positive?  You are so busy thinking about all this stuff that you fail to see that you are now turning red too!  Now you are a beautiful mix of yellow, orange and red!!  People walking by marvel at your awesome beauty and you are starting to smile again.  Maybe I can make something positive out of this after all, you think.
A older lady stops right under you and you notice she is crying.  She has had lots of change too over the past few months and she is sad and scared and wondering how she will go on with her life.  You have found your chance to do something positive, so you let go of your lifeline and gently float down and land on her shoe.  She looks at you through teary eyes and sees how very beautiful you are, she reaches down and picks you up.  She say's to you that you are the most beautiful leave she has ever seen in her many years and she would like to take you home with her and press you and put you in a frame and hang you on the wall.  You are thinking.....ok, she doesn't look like the story telling type so I must really be beautiful, but she wants to do WHAT to me??  She wipes away her tears as she walks home with you, telling you how she wants everyone to see what a wonderful thing that has happened to her.  You are thinking, happened to her, what about me?  Realizing you have just made a positive thing out of change, you regain your smile and your sparkle.  As the lady walks away with you, you tell all your leaf friends to go and make something positive of their change too, and to not end up in the bottom of the leaf bag headed for the dump.
So, the lady gets you home and lay's you between two pieces of wax paper and then puts you in a book and closes it.  She put several other books on top of the one you are in and leaves you there for a while.  You are thinking, GET ME OUT OF HERE!  This is one part of change that I don't like at all.  I went through all that just to be put in some book where it is dark and scary?  Change can sometimes be dark and scary, but if you can just hold on to your lifeline long enough it will get better.
The lady opens the book one day and takes you out.  Oh thank you, you tell her.  I was scared and lonely in there.  She say's to you that you will not have to be scared and lonely anymore.  She sprays you with some shiny stuff and puts you in a frame and hangs you on the wall for everyone to see.
Your magnificent beauty bring joy to everyone who sees you!
You have probably the biggest smile ever now because again you realize that you made something positive out of change in your life.