We see our reflection in a
mirror or in the water or a shiny plate of metal, and we think, “What happened?
What happened to that strong, youthful, in control, fine human being? Where did
the hair and teeth go? Where did that stomach bulge come from? My joints didn’t
use to ache. What happened?”
We know what happened. Change
happened. No matter how much we want it not to happen, it happens. It happens
in our personal lives. It happens in the social circles in which we move. It
happens throughout the world and universe. We cannot stop it. Change happens.
How do we survive it in a
healthy manner?
How can we embrace change as
a friend instead of as the enemy?
Matthew
13:52 So (Jesus) replied, "This means, then, that every teacher of the
Law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of heaven is like a homeowner who
takes new and old things out of his storage room."
As we look back through the
years, we embraced many changes with pride and excitement. The changes came
when we moved through a milestone in school. The changes came in our clothing
and shoes as we grew toward adulthood. Changes came as we acquired new skills
and took on additional responsibilities. Changes came as relationships changed,
sometimes for the better and sometimes not so.
In so many instances we saw
change as being positive and a mark of our advancement whether in age, in
height, or in skills. Somewhere along the way, however, change was no longer
seen as a friend. Change became dominated by what we saw as the negative
instead of the positive. Change was something to be avoided rather than sought.
Instead of growth and accomplishment, change was taking us closer to the end,
to death.
In the words of Jesus found
in Matthew 13 we find hope. We also find wisdom and strength as we face this
inevitable thing in our lives called change. Jesus tells us that change will
happen but it doesn’t have to leave us feeling out of control. We can choose
how we face this beast, and in choosing we can control how we will face it.
Every change we face offers
us one great area still under our control: our attitude. We can decide what our
attitudes will be with each change, and that will give us the control over how
we face what is happening. Our attitudes dictate our perspective on the
situation. They allow us to evaluate our options. They prepare us for the
consequences of each choice we make. Change may happen beyond our ability to
stop it, but we can shape the results of the change in many ways.
We can look at what we may be
losing and what we may be gaining with each change. Our perspectives allow us
to see what we are gaining may far exceed in long term value what we are giving
up. Any time we can see we have profited from a change, it is much easier to
handle. We may decide what we are losing was of value only because it was
familiar and not because it was contributing to the quality of our lives. The
newness coming into our lives may be somewhat fearful because it is different,
but what it offers is so much more than what we had.
The wise individual in the
thought of Jesus is one who willingly looks at all he has and decides how to
move forward with it. He draws some from the old because it has proven itself
to be of value in the future he now faces. He grasps the new because only with
the new will he be able to deal with the change that has occurred. As we move
through the years, it is a decision we face often.
