Everything Eventually Unravels

So loosen your grip

A sunset view through trees near the track to Evergreen. Each day unravels into night. Tall trees eventually fall. Everything unravels.

Rob and I sit outside and look over the receding winter lake, nibbling salty chips and sipping wine as the sun gets ready to set. Soon all the water will be gone except for two deep ponds, and this day will be over.

Rob interrupts my somewhat heavy thoughts with a pithy one-liner.

“The beauty about existence is that everything eventually unravels,” he says, then takes another chip.

I open my mouth to protest at his cold summation, then shut it because what he’d just said is true.

The lake unravels. The water falls from the sky, runs through the landscape, forms a lake at our back door, then as summer approaches it finds its way to the sea or evaporates.

Each day unravels. It starts out strong and promising, then sinks resignedly below the horizon and is swallowed up in darkness.

These happenings aren’t depressing. They’re a reminder not to cling to anything tightly because everything ultimately slips though our fingers: winter lakes, this day, relationships, flowers in vases, the gift of sight, ourselves.

Really, there is nothing we can hold onto forever.  

Unravelling is woven throughout existence.

Even stars die.

Everything Changes

Going back to Rob’s comment, what makes this process of existence beautiful is that it shows that we are part of many cycles.

Everyday life is our personal glimpse of eternity in living colour, slowly and beautifully developing and then unravelling.

When we hold life experiences gently, letting them flow through the flow that is ourselves, we appreciate each moment for what it is giving us, and become aware of the opportunity each moment is giving us to give back in return.

That’s what I realised while crunching on a salty chip, by the side of a receding lake, as the sun went down.

Everything changes.

All the time.

So, loosen your grip.

With love, Marlane