Time For Change?

 I don't like change.I prefer stability, tradition and security.It's been a frequent area of contention between Linda and I. She loves to move rooms, change furniture, paint, redecorate, and a host of those horrible things.But in order to last these thirty years of marriage, I've begrudgingly learned to embrace her wanted changes. Well, sort of :-).I also would not have lasted these 30 years in ministry had I not learned to embrace change in church and life as well.I have learned that life is all about change. The seasons change, cultures change, communities change. People are fickle and mutable. We can let it annoy us and even resist, but the truth is, if we are going to thrive in life, we have to accept and even appropriate the changes around us.I'm writing this from my hometown, LaCrosse, Wisconsin. And everything around me reminds me of the constant nature of change in life. I'm actually here to help move my mom. My dad died over a decade ago. After his death, I helped Mom move into this place that she is now moving out of. She remarried a couple of weeks ago (at 77!) and is relocating to her new husband's home in Shawano, Wisconsin.Most of you know my story. I had a difficult childhood and adolescent years. As we drove off the exit and into this city, a flood of memories came and the feelings associated with them, mostly painful, returned. We drove by my old grade school, the campground my dad and I lived at one summer, and the motel my sister and I lived in the following summer. I guess there are some changes that are good!But good or not, change is certain. We might as well make the most of it. Here's how.1—Know that God wants to change us. Changes around us may not be welcome, but God is sovereign and he is either causing or allowing those changes to help us become more like Christ.2—Accept and embrace changes that are beyond your control. After all, some of the greatest blessings in my life started out as unwelcome changes.3—You become a change agent. Hey, since changes are inevitable anyway, let's see ourselves as instruments of God to bring about changes for good where we can have an impact. When we do that, it takes the sting out of those changes we are struggling with.We have this encouragement from the author of Hebrews, that while everything may be changing around us, Jesus will not. He is our stability (Hebrews 13:8).What changes are you struggling with now?