Change and Effort

From the Legacy of the Divine Tarot, the Wheel of Fortune; from the Tea Leaf Reading Cards, Sword:

These two cards, one representing change and the other discernment, made me think of the phrase that I and others have uttered often lately: "When will I get a break!" The problem is not that things don't change - life is a constant ebb and flow, a movement of losing and receiving - but that we want our situation to be stuck in a way that pleases us all the time. The irony is that even when things are good (say we get a new car), we still worry and get angry (as when someone dings that car at the grocery store). Life is a constant effort, from the time we are born and learn to walk to our later years when we must navigate the process of aging. Yet at the center of life's wheel of change is a hub that keeps us from feeling like we're spinning out of control. It is our connection to the Ground of Being (to use the words of Paul Tillich) which we can tap into through the spiritual practices and rituals that have meaning for us.