As the seasons begin to change once again we are reminded of how life is always changing. Over the years I have changed in how I see change and how I process it. I’m sure that’s true for most of us too. When I was young and fresh on the path of life I saw change as a wonderful thing, a needed thing and while I tried to be patient with “older people” who didn’t see change as I did I had a hard time of understanding some people’s resistance and difficulty with change. Oh, how times have changed for me. Now that I’m in the “older people” category I see how more difficult change is to accept and to value. I’ve changed in the way I see change.
I still see change as necessary and positive and a good thing but I’m slower to accept the necessity of change, less adaptable to change . I have to work harder at being open to all the change in my life. These are certainly times when change is coming at us faster and harder than ever before.
I’m still all about “change” but I have to keep reminding myself that change is good. Of course, not all change is good and sometimes change for no particular reason can be destructive but all in all change is still a good thing. When I was young and fresh and green I used to change the way the furniture was arranged in my office. It used to drive my secretary crazy when it came time for her to help me move the desk, the file cabinets, the machines, and the chairs in my office. Debbie would always grin and say, “I knew it was coming around for you to change the office arrangement.” I haven’t changed the arrangement in my office for a long time, no doubt in part because I don’t value moving stuff around for the sake of moving it around as much as I used to. As we get older change gets harder and harder. Karen doesn’t have to worry about “the time” for me to want to change my office around.
How good are you at pursuing and seeking change in your life? How open are you to change in all the different places in your life? How good are you at even accepting change and learning to roll with it even if you don’t initiate it? These are all good questions for every one of us to ask ourselves from time to time. It’s certainly a question the church always has to be asking. Shopping Malls in the age of Amazon don’t have a great future.
As the seasons change yet again we are reminded that life is always changing. Soon, the leaves will be changing into the brilliant colors of the end of Fall. Soon the weather will go from warm and even hot to crisp and even cold. The furnace in my house has already kicked over to “heat” settings, the annual Fall tune-up for the furnace has already taken place, soon and very soon the hose winders and hoses will be unhooked and put in the basement for the winter and the yard will be prepared for winter. Yep, change in the air.
May the Good Lord help us with accepting the good and necessary changes that are a natural part of life, separate out the good changes from the unnecessary or even bad changes and may through it all the one thing we remember is that God is always with through all the seasons of life and that He never changes.