Changes...

Change. Most of us fear this word, and what it represents. We live by the maxim "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Another of our mottoes is "I've always done it this way." Or again, "if it was good enough for [insert appropriate name here] it's good enough for me." We long for the "good old days" and wish we could go back to "the way we were." (Thanks, Barbra Streisand, for the song running through my head right now!)

I like routine. Routine produces a sense of security, and helps me cover all my bases. For example, I have a shower routine. I do the same things, in the same order, every time I take a shower. Rarely, I will forget a step, or, if I am distracted in my thoughts, I may mix things up. Usually, the mixup is harmless, even refreshing. However, recently I put my shaving gel on my toothbrush. Unpleasant! I hadn't even said any naughty words, thus deserving to have my mouth washed out with soap!

 Routine, however, is just that. Routine. It is easy to become numb and just go through the motions. From time to time I set out in my car for a short trip--maybe to the library, or to get the oil changed in the car. My mind, accustomed to the routine trips I make on a nearly daily basis, settles into a routine, and before I realize it, I have turned in the wrong direction. My "autopilot" had taken me in the routine direction, and I had to manually override that part of my brain that follows my routines.

A friend from church shared that she had been training her brain by forcing herself out of her routine deliberately. One of the ways she was doing this was by wearing her wristwatch on the "wrong" wrist. Another method she was using was spelling as many words containing exactly five letters as she could while she washed her hands. I tried the wristwatch thing, and didn't like it. Felt too foreign to me. I guess I really don't like to change!

The past four months of my life have brought a number of significant changes. A few of them include graduating from a postgraduate program which had consumed much of my attention and energy for the past three years; seeing my oldest son married and out of the house; and taking my youngest son to the Army Recruiting office and saying goodbye as he "shipped out" for basic training in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Did I mention losing a significant income stream? People who get government grants to study such things report that I have accumulated an impressive score on the stress scale in the last 120 days.

Am I unhappy? Good grief, no! Don't upset my shower routine, okay? But the changes I have experienced have all been positive in many ways. Okay, maybe that's a stretch when you remember what I said about the loss of income. Even so, that particular happening was God's doing, very clearly in my mind, and so I'm sure that it is, or will eventually be revealed to be, a change for my good.

I like change. I think of myself as an adventurous person. This spring one of the ladies in our church was facing the difficult change of a long-distance move. She had lived her entire life in Orange County, New York, and now had to move four hours away by car into a tiny apartment in a retirement community. We prayed for her in the course of her preparations. As I prayed for my friend, I prayed that God would give to her a "spirit of adventure" that would allow her to see this traumatic change as an opportunity to gather new experiences, to meet new friends, and to grow as a person.

I said that I like change. Don't get me wrong--I am content to remain as I am. However, I know that I am not yet the man I am supposed to be, the person I was intended to be, designed to be, created to be, called to be. So, there are bound to be some more changes ahead. May God give me the courage and the spirit of adventure required to embrace the changes that He crafts for me.