change is constant (background music)
“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” – George Bernard Shaw
Knock, knock…who’s there? Noah. Noah who? Noah a good way to open the door?
Ok bad joke, but change is knockin’ and wants to come in and sometimes we sit behind the door hoping that change will just go away so that we don’t have to open it!
Change is inevitable, yet why is it that most, if not all of us, would rather have a root canal than be forced to change? Perhaps you’re thinking, “but I’m spontaneous, I like change.” Do you really? If change is planned by someone other than yourself do you not feel powerless, forced into something, and maybe a little bit controlled? The obvious answer is yes! In this regard, when change is forced upon us, most if not all would dig in our heels, be dragged kicking and screaming through the threshold of change. Yet is change in and of itself necessarily the villain here? No, it’s not. Change is just the conduit by which realities in our lives are modified, for better or worse. If anything is at fault from time to time in healthy change it’s the attitude in which we receive this change. Our attitudes can make or break decisions and positive directions if we continually have a negative outlook on things around us.
Have you ever been friends with a cynic or a pessimist who were always negative? It’s not exactly a healthy relationship to always be dreary, somber and generally disagreeable. No one wants to be around people like that all the time, because whatever glimmer of hope one might have of life can be sucked out of them by the downer attitude of a naysayers or pessimist.
So why do we dig in our heels when change occurs? Could it be that our own sense of security and comfort is threatened? Substantial positive change has that effect on a majority of us who live and breathe every day…ok maybe that’s too vague. Let me put it another way. Substantial positive change has that effect on all of us in some shape or form. Are you getting the picture now? We are all affected by change. John Maxwell once said, “If we’re growing we’re always going to be out of our comfort zone” Meaning, if we are continuing to modify our outcomes in life for the better, improving our lifestyle, habits, work ethic, then we are going to be uncomfortable, we are going to face challenges…but it is always worth it.
Have you ever kept a journal? A few years ago I opened one of our moving boxes and discovered a couple of old poetry journals that I had filled and written in ages ago. At the time, I thought these poems were fantastic, or at least moderately good. But when I re-read them again, I discovered that as a young adult or teenager, my poems were shallow, simplistic and fairly unoriginal…In it I discovered that I had grown, matured and my outlook on life has changed for the better. It’s funny when we look back at periods of our lives and think about how we were. People change. We, you change! This is a constant. This is a truth we all discover as we age in this life. Have you ever gone back to a school reunion and thought to yourself, wow everyone has changed? You just witnessed this truth of change.
-Back to our heel digging decries of this villain known as change…
Helen Keller once said, “When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” Change is like this, and so is our perception of our lives or our interpretation of our lives. I can sure identify with this quote. I’ve stared longingly at closed doors of happiness, wishing they would re-open and yet life is forcing me through other doors of possibility. I have regretted some of those doors and my entry through them, and because in my displeasure and complaints I have failed to capture the blessings of those open and new opportunities. I’ve been ashamed of my almost childish protests. My “not gonna do it and you can’t force me to” proclamations to leaders above me and or even God himself. I’m glad no one took pictures of me in those moments, my shame and my arrogance would have been evident and these improper responses, I know now, have been and still are beneath me as a person…as a follower of Christ. once said, “When one door of happiness closes, another
Change is a part of life. If we don’t walk through the doors of change, we will not grow into the people we were meant to be, and
the world will truly be lacking because of it. So when change forces us through another door, may we all walk through it with an ounce of dignified grace instead of kicking and screaming…and who knows, maybe in the process of such moments we might be able to appreciate the beauty and majesty of it.
“The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists.”
~Japanese Proverb
“Here I am, I stand at the door and knock, If anyone hears my voice
and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” –Revelations 3:20
- “Knock, knock…”
Pastor's Ponderings 