Moored Palette

This moody moored palette captures the deep blues and greens of the water, even though you don't see much water, or really anything but what your mind thinks is black and white in the picture.

My family has been talking a lot about change lately. As the school year winds down, I've got one kid finishing middle school, getting ready to start high school next year, and one kid having just survived her first year of middle school. One thing I can tell you, from their experiences and mine, is that middle school is aptly named. It's a time in between.

You're in between elementary school where friends come easy and learning is fun, and high school where you finally have a sense of who your real friends are and what you want to study in life, if you're lucky. And in between, well none of those things are true. Friends come and go, often with painful fallout. School seems to change overnight into a challenge that you aren't prepared for, but thought you were. And you? Well, the person who looks out at you from the mirror every morning seems to change with every passing experience and hormone fluctuation. Middle school is tough.

With change on my mind lately, this image struck me this week. I love how securely the rope is tied, and how orderly its coils rest on the dock. It gives me a sense that all is well, and someone has taken great care to moor this ship safely in its harbor. That's a feeling I crave and appreciate all the more as my family walks through this season of change and uncertainty together.

I especially love the way the late-day sunlight warms up the rope, even while it's surrounded by the cool greens and blue of the dock and water below. That contrast makes me want to turn my face to that warm afternoon sun and soak it in.

So today I offer you this blessing as you go through your own life full of changes: May the sun be warm on your face and may your ship be well moored in a safe harbor.