Being Willing to Change
Daylight-Saving time! You’re welcome! I am reminding you to get that extra hour of glorious sleep tonight! So go ahead and set your clocks back an hour before retiring tonight. Tomorrow morning, Sunday, at 2 a.m. we FALL BACK an hour.
This is my favorite time change. We adults can get this and adapt quite readily. But, oh my goodness, I remember when my children and grandchildren were babies and those time changes created a work-out with getting them on their new schedule!
They didn’t understand they could get an extra hour of sleep in the Fall. But, these days, wise young moms and dads have learned to trick the time clock. They start regulating the kids’ schedule way before tonight. They gradually move bedtime and morning wake up time and nap times later by 10-15 minutes. By the time Sunday comes, those kiddos’ schedule is already tracking the new time.
I love that. Adapting to change. Rather than grumpy moms, dads, and kids…. being forward thinking. So, what can I do to make what I know is coming…..an easier, calmer, less-stressful outcome?
First, I can ACCEPT that changes are inevitable. Like this Daylight-Saving time change, it’s going to happen whether we want it to or not. Being willing to embrace change has many rewards.
I accepted change when, after living in Oklahoma for 40 years, I moved to Texas. That monumental change gave me precious time living near my children in Frisco, TX for four years. And if that change weren’t enough, my son says: “It’s our turn to have you, Mom!” So, for the last three years, I have lived in Austin.
During these seven years, God brought me a host of new friends where I live, at church and where I volunteer. I thought my life was full and then, what does God do? He throws a “Change it up, girl — you’re too comfortable in your singleness!”
He brings a most precious, loving and kind man into my life. I’m getting a kick out of reading my journal from last year when we met at the early voting elections and the subtle little “getting-to-know-you” tactics we used to get to know each other.
Nine months later, we married (something I never even imagined in this season of life). Being willing to change flipped my widowhood script and now I have a husband and best friend to live out these golden years until death do us part.
Changes in our lives are inevitable. We can hold change like the tight reins of a horse and resist it and refuse to submit to change, or we can shed that old stuck-in-the-mud thinking of “I’ve ALWAYS done it this way, and I’ll never change” or embrace change and grow, learn, adapt and be ALL God destined us to be.
Maybe it’s time to rethink that new hairstyle, that better job, that circle of friends, that new cell phone with a “Siri” that answers questions for us. Maybe being willing to change that attitude of gloom, doom, and despair to a “full of light and life” attitude! Maybe it’s time to get a new lease on life by being willing to CHANGE!
So whether you’re approaching an unknown season in life, adapting to a new stage of life, or are trying to find peace in the changes, TRUST God. He is your MAN FOR ALL SEASONS!
Psalm 25:1-2 “O LORD, I give my life to You. I trust in You, my God!”