~Joshua 1:9
I often hear people lament about how things have changed. And the older we get, the more difficult it becomes to change. But change is normal. Change is inevitable. Time never goes backwards. Things never go back to the way they were before. If you don't believe me, pull out your high school yearbook, or an old family album and check out the clothes and the hairstyles. Change is not unnatural it is inevitable.
We have to learn to adjust. And sometimes that's hard. Especially when life changes in a very fundamental way for us. Like with the loss of somebody close to us. Or maybe we've moved to a new place and we're having a tough time adjusting to it. Or we change jobs. Or as I've learned recently, retirement can be a very unsettling change in lifestyle and routine.
And sometimes people just get stuck. They don't know how to adjust. It's too big a change to make all at once, or there are too many changes in too short a period of time. Or they simply refuse to change, because they want to live as they always have even though that world they long to stay in no longer exists. They become trapped between reality and what once was, and they don't know how to move forward.
But change is natural. You'll hear people say that change is hard. And it is sometimes, but that's usually because we are resisting the change. It's usually because we refuse to accept that things have changed.
The world will not stop changing. The way we interact with it will change. The technology will change. Even the people in our lives will change over time. There is nothing we can do to stop that. We can either resist and live in the past, or we can choose to continue to live in the present.
One thing that never changes is our faith. God is always with us. The love Christ has for us in unceasing. The Holy Spirit will always guide us if we're wise enough to follow His counsel. There is no reason to be afraid no matter what the change is we're facing. No matter what the challenge is. No matter what crisis will come along. Because God is and has always been with you wherever you go.
So don't be afraid. If you're stuck, God will help you step back out into the world and live. God has given each of us a purpose. No matter how young or how old we are, that purpose continues until the day we go home. So find your way, find your purpose, and live that life.
~Pastor Todd Creason
Amen
ReplyDeleteSuch good reminders. Thank you, Pastor.
ReplyDelete