Generation NeXt Parenting

Change is God By Judy Fedele

Change is God


Who ever came up with the idea that our lives were supposed to be comfortable? Settle down into a nice simple routine and never change or alter anything around us? It’s just not realistic. Life is chaos, baby. Don’t buy into those abnormally organized among us, those with set schedules, clean closets, and Palms on auto-Pilot. It’s not real! Not all of us have secretaries and personal trainers.

2, 4, 6, 8, watch that clock and don’t be late! They scream, feverishly working on their day planners far into the night. Who needs that? I know life is chaos. I don’t live by it, but I work with it every day. God never said we were to be comfortable. Even when He blesses us, there is always change in the blessing. There is change in every aspect of life. Changing careers, changing houses, changing diapers, loose change in our drawers. It’s everywhere. It’s pervasive. And why? Because God wants us to swing with it. He needs us to be adaptable, flexible, so we can be good stewards for Him.

I know people who get upset if you start messing with their concept of ‘cleanliness’ – that is, that the things around them must always stay nice and neat and never, ever get moved out of place. You mess with their stuff, you mess up their day. Change cannot be tolerated … We must follow our routine routines … We may not deviate from the defined path …

Get over it, folks! Get a coffee enema and join the rest of us in the real world.

All you have to do is look anywhere in the Bible to prove this point. Just where do you see anyone getting comfortable? (Okay, maybe God ‘rested’ on the seventh day, but you think he was lounging around in his Lazy-God for the rest of the month? No, way! God’s a busy dude. And He’s wired us the same way. “Do whatever your hand finds to do.” And there’s ever-cheerful Solomon in Ecclesiastes talking about work, work, work. Might as well enjoy it because God wants us to keep busy. And of course, Psalm 31 talks about the ‘excellent wife’ – does that woman ever get any sleep? No! She’s up and going, going, going.

There’s a great song by the band Guardian, called “Are We Feeling Comfortable Yet?” and some of my fav lines:

Dear Listener, are you comfortable? Put your feet up, close your eyes, let your senses dull. Float like a beach ball wearing cordless phones. Let the tide take you, groove to the mellow tones… God is skin on mohair - Just admit you itch there . Ever sweat bullets at the sight of blood? Ever drag a half-ton cross through spit and mud? Wouldn’t want to plan too far ahead- wouldn’t want to dwell on what’s beyond… Shift to the left, shift to the right, fidget, lock knees, cough, cough, fidget, don’t scratch, don’t break out in a sweat – are we feeling comfortable yet?
(song based on Ecclesiastes 7:2, Hebrews 10:22 – Psalms 51:7)

Now don’t get me wrong. I am a big proponent of ‘resting’. My husband and I love to grab the busiest of our friends and make them come home for a nice relaxing meal and some needed time out. It’s our family’s specific version of equipping the saints. If the saints can get a little down time, they’ll be better able to handle the stress of the days to come. And that’s important. Because there will always be stress, strain, sprains and change. It’s part of life. You cannot defend against it, you cannot be inoculated, because change will come where and when it will. We can only stand and do our best to adapt. To face the wind and not fear it when it comes.

God says we will not have peace in our lives. And that is true – because no matter how well-organized you are, you cannot predict events and forces beyond yourself and how they will impact your day. But… He does promise us peace, within our spirits. The peace that passes all understanding. We don’t have to understand it, we don’t need to set aside time in our planners for it – God holds it out to us, for us, so that we may embrace a tiny bit of Him every day in our lives.

So I don’t worry if life doesn’t go the way I “plan”. You can roll your eyes, but you still gotta roll with the punches. Don’t fear it. You can’t fight it. But He’s with us, His Spirit at work in us to help us through the turbulence of the day. So be at peace. “Hey mister, can you spare some change?”

Judy Fedele
http://www.orgsites.com/ny/believerschapelmops/

posted by Tricia Goyer @ 8:33 PM