Disclaimer-- no Obama jokes are quoted or referenced, nor were any harmed in the making of this post!
It's just that I was thinking about change this week. Things were rocking along quite calmly in my world--just normal stuff. Get up. Go to work. Come home. Do some housework. Enjoy the family. Go to bed. Get up…
But under closer inspection a few changes are noticeable. Nothing big. Just here and there a metamorphosis of some existing habit or repeated event or attitude that makes a small ripple, which in turn creates other small ripples, which in turn eventually end up changing the shape of the waterline on the shore.
I've noticed this before. Years ago when I was much younger and home schooling all four of the children, it was often necessary to change our schooling schedule. Sometimes it was a change just for a day. But sometimes a larger and more permanent adjustment would become necessary: maybe one child was struggling more with math and needed more of my attention just then, or perhaps the baby's nap schedule changed which caused the school schedule to need adjustment.
At first this bothered me. I had set the school schedule, and thought that proper discipline required that it remain the schedule for at least the whole year! But of course, this ability for the schedule to serve the family, rather than the family serving the schedule, is one of the primary beauties of home school. I soon learned to use this to our advantage, and indeed, when school or house work became more drudgery than challenge, would shake up the schedule just to infuse some excitement into it!
My mother loves adages, maxims, truisms and proverbs, and has several of her own of which she frequently reminds us. One of them (I think it's her current favorite!) is:
"You can't be sure of anything in life except change!"
Because I'm a musician, when I pondered this, it seemed to me that change in our lives can be similar to pieces of music. For instance, a great and happy change in our lives might sound like Beethoven's 9th symphony, final movement, also known as Ode To Joy:
Or perhaps a something like this:
And then, of course, a change which seems to us to be a tragedy might sound like:
Or this:
Or perhaps:
(the bad guys get all the good music. Just sayin').
But mostly the changes in our lives are more like this piece from Steve Reich:
Small changes. Over time. Hardly perceptible, but eventually the entire composition is completely different from what it started out to be. It's still your life. It still feels "normal". But it not the same. Nothing really bad happens...and nothing really good. But altogether it's a nice sound.
"Ok", perhaps you say; "That's very nice philosophical thinking, Esther. So what?"
I suppose there does have to be a "so what?" doesn't there? But isn't it obvious? If what my mother says is true, and we can be certain something will change--if not today, tomorrow, and if not then, then next week--we have an advantage or two!
- We don't have to be surprised or stressed when change occurs.
- We can remain prepared for change, and flexible and adaptable enough to take advantage of opportunities as they occur
- We can look for ways to change proactively (like making changes in a schedule just because it brings a spark of newness to the situation)
As Christians, we have wisdom from God on dealing with change. In fact, scripture counsels us to be prepared for change! (Hey...maybe my mother knows what she's talking about, eh?).
Do not boast about tomorrow,for you do not know what a day may bring. Proverbs 27:1
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:2 a time to be born, and a time to die;a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;a time to break down, and a time to build up;4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;a time to mourn, and a time to dance;5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;a time to keep, and a time to cast away;7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;8 a time to love, and a time to hate;a time for war, and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
8 So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. Ecclesiastes 11:8
13 Consider the work of God:who can make straight what he has made crooked?14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.15 In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing. 16 Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? 17 Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time? 18 It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them. Ecclesiastes 7:13-18
“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,to whom belong wisdom and might.21 He changes times and seasons;he removes kings and sets up kings;he gives wisdom to the wiseand knowledge to those who have understanding; Daniel 2:20-21
And providentially, scripture also tells us how (and gives examples of how best) to react to change (huh. Who knew?):
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17
14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other… Ecclesiastes 7:14
10 Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?”For it is not from wisdom that you ask this. Ecclesiastes 7:10
20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” ...10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job 1:20, 2:10
Blessed is the manwho walks not in the counsel of the wicked,nor stands in the way of sinners,nor sits in the seat of scoffers;2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,and on his law he meditates day and night.3 He is like a treeplanted by streams of waterthat yields its fruit in its season,and its leaf does not wither.In all that he does, he prospers. Psalm 1:1-3
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. James 4:13-16
Thinky Things
What I learn from all this is that yes, change is inevitable, but it is also a gift. And it is not a gift to be taken lightly. A Christian cannot be prepared for change without daily preparation: when the change occurs, it is too late to prepare for it then!
The question is: am I preparing? How do I prepare? Psalm 1 seems a good place to start--'delight in the law of the Lord'--because when the seasons change, the roots will be deep and undisturbed. The music may change...but the Composer and Conductor are still the same.
As changes come in your life, be a tree and...HOLD FAST!
Thank you for the reminder that change shouldn't surprise us. It does me everytime, and I need to work on becoming more grounded!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking as I listened to that last piece that the truth is most of the changes in my life are like that, the little ones that the audience doesn't hear right away. But they always seem huge to me, like the musician playing it who knows there is a big key change coming up that the audience doesn't know about. It's good to be reminded that I'm not as responsible for the changes as I think I am, that the music is in the hands of the Composer, and that occasionally I need to sit back and watch the beauty of it unfold from the outside and see the changes as they really are.
I hadn't thought from the angle of the musician who knows the change is coming, and that although it might be subtle, it is important.
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking from my perspective as the audience: quite often I don't notice the subtle change...and it isn't until later that I look back and realize that things are not the same! Maybe that's just me being dense...probably.
But you're right that we sometimes need to relax into the music and realize that the changes have been orchestrated, and that we can trust the Composer and Conductor that in the end, all will harmonize beautifully.