CHANGES, Changes, Changes, changes

I had a friend many of you knew. He had a traveling ministry with a prophetic gift. After his teaching, he would begin to move through the expectant crowd with words of encouragement couched in prophecies.

They would often come in the form of something he saw. I don’t know how many times he saw the peeling of an onion, but there were quite a few in the times I was with him.

He would introduce that vision with the words, “Changes, changes, changes. I see changes for you…” He would often explain those changes, and the remarkable thing was that he was most often correct. The person would experience the things that had been spoken—sometimes years later—and they would remember the words he had spoken.

If you’re like me, you are secretly laughing at the thought of predicting ‘change.’ How hard is that to do? We ALL go through changes in our life. The difference with his gift, though, was that he could articulate the particular changes.

We can do that in hindsight. Also, with our knowledge of life, we can predict certain changes for others. The boy will lose his high-pitched voice and grow whiskers. The girl will lose her skinny frame and fill out to full womanhood.

The problem I see, however, is how uncomfortable we are with change as we get older. We want—and apparently expect—everything to remain exactly as it is now.

Change comes uninvited and unannounced, whether we like it or not.

One day our knee begins hurting. One day a tooth needs to be removed. One day we look in the mirror and wonder why that old person is standing in front of us. One day, a friend who made life worth living is gone—without our permission.

Change is so much a fact of life, that we have the cutesy saying—“the only constant in life is change.”

How do we handle change? How do we respond to the sudden awakening to something that has been going on for some time? For many, they experience shock. Maybe we all do when we first notice the change. But, after that? How do we handle the effects of change in our being, our family, our society, our nation?

I’ve learned that much of our ongoing suffering is directly related to how much we resist what is. There is much in our life and the world in which we live that we don’t like. The human tendency is to make sure anyone within earshot knows how much we don’t like something. We complain. Why? Why do we complain? What good does it do?

I’ve watched as many of my friends develop an impotent rage against our government. I say ‘impotent’ because when I ask what can they do about it, the reality is “nothing.” It is what it is. Yet they continue to feed on their discontent all the while wondering why their body is causing them such pain. Are the two related?

Maybe.

A proverb states that “A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot.” (Pro 14:30) The word ‘envy’ has to do with intensity of zeal or anger. When there is no release for this passion, dysfunction of the bodily systems sets in.

If there is nothing you can do about that which upsets you, then why feed it? The opposite is a heart at peace—‘tranquil’—which gives life to the body.

The point is—changes are a part of life. Shift happens. Resist that which you can change, or go with the flow with that which you cannot.

Our attitude is not determined by circumstances, but by how we respond to those circumstances. Our minds determine our attitude. We can respond positively or negatively. It’s how we react to events, not the events themselves, that determine our attitude.

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes them so.
(Shakespeare, Hamlet II, 2)

Therefore, the only reasonable thing to do knowing that change will keep happening is to keep living, and learn to accept and learn from the changes in life.