The "40 Days with Jesus" Challenge Day 27
The "40 Days with Jesus" Challenge Day 26
The "40 Days with Jesus" Challenge Day 25
Nothing is permanent except change
Knowing that Julie and I are moving this summer has caused me to think about change. Some twenty-five hundred years ago the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, "There is nothing permanent except change." Some change transforms our entire lives, such as moving into or out of a community. Other change makes us rethink how we look at ourselves, like when we peer into a mirror and realize we're not as young as we once were. Some change we celebrate, like the graduations of another class of seniors which will happen in a few weeks. Other change we grieve, such as the death of a loved one.
A couple of conversations I had a couple of weeks ago reminded me that how we view change has a lot to do with our perspective. The first happened when my sister and her family stopped over at our house to spend the night. My 10 year old nephew had wandered into our bedroom when he exclaimed, "Look, they have an old-fashion kind of phone." He was pointing at the phone on our nightstand whose handset was connected to the base by a cord. The only phones he had ever used were wireless. The next day I was telling my father this story and he said he could remember the first time he ever used a dial-type phone. He went into a phone booth and there hanging on the wall was a rotary pay phone. He admitted that he was at a loss as to how to make it work.
These two incidences point to two common ways of dealing with change. Like my nephew who saw our lack of change as an oddity, some people easily and quickly adapt to change. Others like my father are at first at a loss what to make of change, but eventually adapt. Most of us are a combination of both, some change we adapt to quickly, other takes us a while to process.
I believe the key to dealing with change in a positive way is remembering that all things are temporary. The prophet Isaiah reminds us, "All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades.." (Is. 40:6b-7a). In Ecclesiastes chapter 3 we read, "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven." (Ecc. 3:1) Recognizing when one season is ending and another is beginning allows us to accept the changes in life more easily. Change becomes hard when we start to think that the season we are presently in will last forever. Julie and I believe that our season in New Sharon has come to an end and that it is time for us to move on into a new stage in our lives. We thank God that we have had our time here and believe that God will continue to be active in this community for God is forever faithful.
The "40 Days with Jesus" Challenge Day 24
The "40 Days with Jesus" Challenge Day 23
The "40 Days with Jesus" Challenge Day 22
The "40 Days with Jesus" Challenge Day 21
The "40 Days with Jesus" Challenge Day 20
Recent Posts
- A response to those who break covenant
- Caring for the Poor: The Christian's Responsibility
- The Goodbyes Begin
- Federal Judge Voids the First Amendment
- Will it ever stop?
- Does God have a poker-face?
- Love Wins
- Here is the New There: Rob Bell's "Love Wins"
- The "40 Days with Jesus" Challenge Day 40
- The "40 Days with Jesus" Challenge Day 39
My Favorite Blogs
United Methodist Blogroll
Web Links
- The United Methodist Church of Le Mars
UMCL is located in the ice cream capital of the world, Le Mars, IA. - IAUMC - The Iowa Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church
- The Confessing Movement UMC
- UMCOR: The United Methodist Committee on Relief
- Reporter Interactive - United Methodist News
- acromegaly.org
Recent Comments