Meeting Change Without Losing Our Soul
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“How we live and grow and stay purposeful in the face of constant change actually does determine both the quality of our lives and the impact we have when we move into action together… The first question to ask ourselves is, how do we practice increasing our ease with what is?” — adrienne maree brown, Emergent Strategy
Lately I have been meditating on how change happens. Change is the nature of life. Seasons turn. Rivers shift course. Children grow taller than their parents. Some change feels like gentle unfolding. Other change shakes us, disrupts us, or takes from us something we thought we could not lose.
Author and activist, adrienne maree brown, invites us to “practice increasing our ease with what is.”1 But 2025 is not simply a season of neutral change. We live in a time when authoritarian power uses “change” as a weapon — to erode freedoms, occupy cities, intimidate dissenters, and target the most vulnerable among us. Not all change deserves our ease.
So we find ourselves in a paradox. We must be supple like water, able to adapt and flow. And we must be unyielding like stone, able to resist the force that would erode the foundations of justice and dignity. Wisdom is knowing when each is called for.
When change arises, we can ask:
Is this change part of life’s natural unfolding, however uncomfortable? Then we adapt, learn, and grow.
Is this change morally neutral, just new terrain to explore? Then we meet it with curiosity.
Is this change oppressive, dehumanizing, or violent? Then we resist with moral courage, together.
There is an old Sufi story of the reed flute, hollowed out and emptied so that the breath of Spirit can move through it and create music.2 To “practice ease” is to become like the reed — empty of frantic self-protection — so that divine breath can guide our action. But in a time like this, the music must be both a balm for the weary and a rallying song for the courageous.
Ease does not mean surrendering to injustice. It means standing so deeply rooted in the soil of what is true, good, and sacred, that fear does not dictate our choices. From that grounded place, we can adapt to life’s changing currents and rise to resist what must never be accepted.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
Where in my life am I reacting to change without clarity about what I’m moving toward?
What change in my context is asking me to adapt? What change is asking me to resist?
How might I deepen my capacity to stay grounded in both adaptation and resistance?
A Prayer for the Day
Root Us, Spirit
Holy One, Root us in the deep soil of Your justice. Steady us in the face of chaos, that we might meet life’s changes with a calm heart and a clear mind. Where change is the unfolding of Your creation, make us supple enough to bend and grow. Where change is the work of oppression, make us strong enough to stand, to link arms with one another, and to resist until all are free. Breathe through us as the reed flute, and let our song be one of courage, hope, and love. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Discernment in Three Movements
Set aside 15 minutes each day for quiet reflection or journaling. Choose one change in your personal life or the wider world that is affecting you. Ask yourself three questions:
Is this change natural and life-giving? (Practice adaptation: soften, learn, flow.)
Is this change neutral but challenging? (Practice presence: observe without rushing to fix.)
Is this change harmful or unjust? (Practice resistance: connect with others, plan action, speak truth.)
Notice how your body and spirit respond to each type of change. End your reflection by breathing deeply, asking for the courage to meet life with both openness and steadfastness.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
September 4, 5:30pm ET - I will be collaborating with the Anderson Forum for Progressive Theology to host a conversation with Thomas Jay Oord on Open and Relational theology. It’s a FREE event. Register here.
October 15-18, 2025 - Converging 2025: Sing Truth Conference (all musicians invited!) at Northwest Christian Church in Columbus, OH. Register here!
October 23, 30, November 13, 20 2025, 7pm ET - In Search of a New Story: Reimagining What Comes Next, A 4-Part Online Series with Dr. Matthew Fox, Cameron Trimble, Ilia Delio, Diana Butler Bass, Caroline Myss and other Special Guests. We are living through the unraveling of many old stories—about who we are, why we’re here, and how we are meant to live together on this Earth. As these inherited narratives collapse under the weight of climate crisis, social fragmentation, and spiritual disconnection, the question becomes clear: What story will guide us now? REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!
I drafted a Strategic Framework for Congregations as we move into the coming years of increased authoritarianism around the world. If interested, you can download it here.
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.
https://bookshop.org/p/books/emergent-strategy-shaping-change-changing-worlds-adrienne-maree-brown/10730965?ean=9781849352604&next=t
https://www.flutopedia.com/lit_rumi.htm
Thank you for this! I see one more change-- natural, but challenging. An example is as I walk with my parents, at 85 and almost 90, and witness the changes that aging brings (to me too!). Here is where both adaption and presence help me stay open, responsive, aware of what is, grateful.
Yes. We can bring Presence -- the presence of Love, Joy, and Gratefulness to all of life. Gratefulness -- Great Fullness, of the Brother David Steindl Rast variety.
That could possibly be the most radical act of them all.