Change Is Hard

Mom and I went to her cousin's 85th birthday in Mebane, where my Mom was born and raised. "Up home" as she calls it. The bbq and bluegrass would be in my granddaddy's school house. I dreaded the changes we were going to witness. My Granny's 100 year old house had been bulldozed by the state for a new highway. The blessing is that Granny lived in that house until she died at 96. The other changes I dreaded were family dynamics. We lost a lot of family members around the same time my dad died. We tried to mentally prepare on the way there but our first stop an hour out of Wilmington was to see my uncle in a "rehab center". Things are just not the same. But Mom and I had fun and found lots of memories to laugh about. If Granny were there she would say, "it's about time you get here, I've been sitting here 'specting' you all day!" She would say that even if she had no clue you were coming. I would always be told where to go to get the cheapest gas before I left - even if you had to drive five miles out of the way!

Life is full of changes. The only thing about life that remains constant is change! The only thing that remains the same is God. Malachi 3:6, "I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed." God does not change. He has always been and will always be never changing. Psalm 102: 27, the psalmist declares, "But you remain the same, and your years will never end." God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Hebrews 13: 8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." God is a constant!

God understands that change is hard. Ecclesiastes 3: 11, "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end." God has designed our lives into beautiful seasons, but there is a time limit on each one. Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace."

Some seasons are wonderful and some seasons require us to grow emotionally, professionally, relationally and spiritually! Sometimes change is not just hard, it is painful. But this life involves change. Relationships change, people die, jobs change, finances change, etc. Not only does God stay the same but so does His plans for us. Psalm 33: 11, "But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations." And not just for you and I but for our children, grandchildren and generations to come! They have the same constant in their lives!

We are to give thanks in all things including the hard times. 1 Thessalonians 5: 18, "...give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." There can be great joy from the hard times because that is when we grow. James 1: 2-3, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." We should look to Jesus through life's difficulties and that will make us more like Him. Jesus is greater than every hardship!

On the way home Mom and I laughed a lot and talked about all of the many blessings that came from that day. Yes, it was bittersweet but life goes on. Mom got to see and catch up with lots of friends, neighbors and relatives! I got to see cousins I had not seen in thirty years! We reminisced about Granny's cooking and catching lightening bugs in her yard. In a weird way it was comforting to hear people calling you by your first and middle name! Earlier in the day we spent time with one of Mom's favorite cousins. We rode by special houses remembering good times, took flowers to the cemetery, went to the family church, spent time with a special cousin, and got to see all of the changes in town. Some of the changes were hard but we thank God for the gift of today and that we were able to go! I thank God that Mom and I get to spend so much time together. I am grateful! Psalm 107: 1, "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever."