CHANGE

Change comes.

The invitation takes many forms.

A failure. A confrontation. Accusation.

A word. A promise. A correction. An encounter.

Maybe a look. 

Maybe a simple response. A reaction.

Something happens that rocks my world.

Or, smaller, makes me uncomfortable.

Triggers a defence…

Feels unjust, unfair… wrong… 

Challenges the status quo.

What do I do?

Embrace it?

      Rarely.

Defend?

      Usually.

Resist?

      Often.

Refuse it?

       Initially … oh yes….

Few like or want change.

Yet without change there is no growth.

I am in good company:

Moses – “Send someone else.”

King Saul – “I did as you said and killed everything.” 

but, “Then what is this lowing of sheep I hear?”

Jehoiakim – “Burn the scroll with his words.”

Zechariah – “How can this be since I’m old and my wife…?”

Nicodemus – “Can I return to my mother’s womb?”

Saul – breathing threats, helped murder those who challenged his religion.

But there are some who accept change.

Take Mary – “Let it be to me according to Your word.”

The greatest promise of history was – simply – received.

The word that radically and indelibly changed a life, a marriage… 

that brought reproach, hardship, shame, pointing fingers

was embraced with but one clarification.

How do I deal with change? 

Kicking and screaming?

Pushing back?

Pondering?

Tentatively accepting?

Embracing?

Some look for it, eager to grow.

Oh, I wish … but, nay, not I…

I need to change how I handle change.