Confession 219: Changing

See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.  Isaiah 43:19

Last week I was driving through the town where I was raised.  I took a detour and drove by my childhood home.  It is remarkable how much it looks the same, even down to the screen door.  I found myself wanting to pull over and walk inside.  In my mind, I saw myself pulling open the aluminum screen door and entering back into the world of my childhood; my personal Eden.  There would be the gold carpet on which I laid and colored pictures while listening to the cling of pots and pans in the kitchen and the distant voices of the announcers on the t.v. in the family room where my father watched football.  There would be our dining room chairs which my sister and I so often pulled into the living room and draped with blankets to make a tent.  And my room would still be painted a vivid pink, my bed adorned with quilts my grandmothers and great grandmothers had made; my personal sanctuary from the rest of the world.

And yet, the reality is that if I did indeed re-enter my childhood home I would find all of those things to be gone.  The carpet would be replaced with hardwood, the table would be that of someone else and my room would most certainly have not retained it's Pepto Bismal state.

It's hard for me to accept the truth that life is in constant change.  And it's hard for me to understand at times that change is a vital and necessary part of our existence.  If I had my way, things would always remain at the moment of my deepest contentment.  My oldest would always stay 5 and not leave for kindergarten next year.  My youngest would always shower me with hugs and kisses and say 100 times a day, "Mommy, I wuv you."  But if change never happened, we would never grow.  God, who never changes, uses change in our lives to move us closer to him.  I love this quote from author Mary Redding,  

"The road by which we travel toward God's future for us is rarely a straight one.  Twists and turns, detours and rest stops are natural parts of the journey." (Upper Room, Jan/Feb 2012)

In order to get to the places God wants us to be we have to be willing to change and grow.  More importantly, we have to accept and even embrace the changes life brings to us.  Sometimes those changes can be incredibly painful and seem impossibly unfair.  But we have this promise from God, that in ALL THINGS God works for the GOOD of those who love him!! (Romans 8:28)  I'm including a video of one of my favorite songs, Susan Ashton's "You Move Me". 

Blessings and Peace,
Sara