Change

 

Photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash

Let them praise the Lord for his great love  and for the wonderful things he has done for them. Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and sing joyfully about his glorious acts.

-Psalm 107:21-22

For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.

-Ecclessiastes 3:1

I never thought I would live in Kansas, but I think I must have told God at some point that I wanted to be in the center of things and this is God’s subtle humor.  Kansas is the center of the United States – not the center of attention or the center of the action, but the geographic center.  And so here we are.

Sometimes on social media someone will ask which season is everyone’s favorite and I’ve come to realize that I like all four because I like the fact that there is always change.  I grew up in Southern California where the seasons didn’t change that much.  The ocean provides a buffer, and mostly it’s warm and sunny.  It’s beautiful, but also a little boring. 

In Kansas there are all four seasons. Right now, we’re in the one in which the leaves turn yellow and orange and red because the temperatures are getting close to freezing at night.  As it gradually gets colder, we’ll have some freezing and hopefully some snow.  In the spring as things warm up we’ll have flowers and the bright green of new leaves on the trees.  Then we’ll have the heat of summer which is the growing season here, and the fields will be green with corn and soy and wheat.

There are lots of reasons for the seasons that are astronomical and agricultural, even entomological (freezing temps keep the bug population down), but I think God was also doing something psychological with the seasons – preparing us for the inevitability of change.  Everything changes, except change itself.  Everything changes except God.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. -Hebrews 13:8

Despite the seasons giving us a constant lesson in the reality of change, we spend a lot of time and energy managing change, and grieving change.  I tend to be a change instigator, and yet I have discovered that I actually don’t like change that I didn’t instigate.  Though sometimes I do.  Sometimes I get excited about change, especially when it means someone is trying something new.  But when it means the breaking of a relationship because someone is moving away or going to a new job or dies, that’s not so much fun. And yet, it happens.

Psalm 107 encourages us to praise God for his wonderful acts, and the apostle Paul tells us to thank God in all circumstances (1 Thess. 5:18), so today I am thankful for the seasons and for the subtle way they help us to understand the constancy of change. Who knows what God is up to in all these changes?

"God moves in a mysterious way." --William Cowper

Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice?  And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back? For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.

--Romans 11:33–36