One Thing I know for Sure

Just as the seasons, everyone has to change, or they die. Change is God’s way for us to grow. Stay fertile for the changes. A mind was meant to think, and question and figure things out. Not to go over and over the same things and never get outside the box of your life. God is outside the box.

We are between the covers of a book. The story of our changing lives. God can open that book and see the end from the beginning. To whatever degree our free will is not compromised, He wrote the entire story. It is our job to discover the plot, day-by-day, mile-by-mile, year-by-year. Life cannot be lived flat on a page. It requires a willingness to step out. To follow the path. To enjoy the hills, and the valleys. And to arrive at our final destination.

Recently, I thought of the line from Psalm 23 that states that though we walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, God is always with us. And I realized that all of life takes place in that Valley of the Shadow of Death. From the moment of birth, we are doing all we can to live. To fight disease and danger. To stay strong. To dodge the shadow of death. To complete the journey. It is only oppressive when we focus on the Shadow and forget Who is walking through with us.

Our finite minds cannot grasp what it means to be outside “time”. Einstein proved that when you go faster than the speed of light, there is no time. There is only “now”. I can’t get a handle on that. But I accept it as a proven fact. That says to me, that God, Who is outside this “time capsule” lives in the eternal now. God called Himself, “I AM.” God does not change.

But God’s ways DO change. He changed in his dealings with people throughout the Bible, the Old and New Testaments, and throughout history. Constant, progressive change is built into the universe and even our individual lives. We resist at the cost of true living.

External change in our lifetime has occurred so rapidly that at times it seems overwhelming. To refuse to adapt, closes a door in life and it becomes a setback. But this is external.

The more seriously changing landscape is that of our minds. Our souls. Our understanding.

Climb, or die.
Grow, or be left behind.
Expand, or be isolated.

The external universe is expanding. So must the internal.

Intellectual, spiritual, and emotional flexibility is the hallmark of health. Unless we change, we stagnate.

“Just as the seasons, everyone has to change, or they die. Change is God’s way for us to grow.”

We can be guaranteed of one thing: however comfortable we seem to be in this season of life, it is going to change.

I don’t like to think about that. I hate change.

I have always tried to imagine what it would have been like to grow up in a small town in the Midwest; know most everyone in the community; live there my whole life and grow old enjoying my rocking chair on a Victorian front porch.

I have never been adventurous. Not on the outside.

But in fact, I have lived only in large cities from the east coast (Baltimore/Daytona Beach) to the west (Los Angeles) with my roots still clinging tenaciously to Louisville.

And my “insides”…interior thoughts…have traveled the world and back. Geographically and philosophically. It seems as though my thirst for knowledge and understanding has only recently peaked.

I told someone recently that I so very much wish I could extend my lifetime – not because I want to live so much longer, but because… there is so much more to learn.

I want to grow, - ‘til I go.

I have a feeling - this is going to involve some change.