Change is all around us. Change is money left over when we pay with a five dollar bill for something that costs less than that. Ashes are the change left over from burning wood. There are other changes like cold to hot, old to new, health to sickness, and so on and so forth. Which changes do shrug off because we know they are inevitable and which are so inconvenient they slow us until we find a solution that overrides? And what changes bring incredible fear and can paralyze us from any movement at all?
Yesterday I took Bosco (our beagle) to the garage door for his morning walk, but he froze and wouldn’t move. That is when I noticed an empty bag on the floor that had been filled with salt for the water softener. In the afternoon, he ran into the kitchen for his afternoon walk but panicked and ran back upstairs. (I had left the vacuum cleaner out!) Anything that gets in the way of his routine is terror for this animal, who is most secure when nothing changes. It makes no sense, until we realize we often are just as scared of changes of inconvenience that shouldn’t stop us in our tracks, but often do.
Life is full of the knee jerk reactions to something unexpected or new and results can range from confusion to fear or anger. With hindsight it is easy to see how unhelpful such reactions to inconvenient change really are, yet there are times when we are like Bosco and can’t absorb something unexpected In such moments we have to admit our animal instincts are not always helpful or productive. Of course there are major changes like illness, unemployment, or death that are of a different magnitude. Life is full of change. How we deal with change reveals how healthy our lives truly are. Some change is inconvenient and takes time to adapt. They might require additional help from counseling, a hug from a friend, or simply taking the time it takes to adjust. The most difficult changes that knock us down need more and it is the blessing of God’s presence and love that can heal and restore what nothing on earth can touch.
Bosco needs outside help for almost every change. That offers a lesson for us as we often need outside help, which can range from simple attitude adjustments to the incredible healing only God can bring. That is why God’s greatest love which produced Easter, the end to our greatest fear, allows faith to temper every moment of life with the assurance we are never alone, unloved, or without the presence of God. It is in that blessing of faith that lives are able to adjust and adapt to any change by simply remembering whose we are! Change is always with us, but faith is the assurance of help for anything and for always!