Afraid of Change

Most of us prefer the status quo.  We are disturbed by change.  And yet life is change and there is nothing changeless about life except change.  “What is” in life will always become “what was!”  Change is inevitable.  We know this.  What a great change it was (or will be) to move out of adolescence into adulthood, from singleness to marriage, from husband and wife to parenthood, from middle age to maturity and old age!  Change occurs every step of the way in life.  

Over the years I’ve noticed that most people tend to sit in the same seats—in their homes, in church, and in other settings.  We do not want to change—not even where we sit!  Some years ago I conducted an experiment.  I asked the members of the congregation I was serving to play “musical chairs (or pews)”—I asked them to change chairs and only as a game!  What a ruckus that created!  “Change our chairs—not on your life!”  Some refused to even play the game!  

Montana, USA

This morning I’m thinking about our attitudes and fears toward the inevitable changes in our personal lives and in our world.  Some deal with change as a season of spring—a new beginning.  Others deal with change as a season of summer—feeling it as hot, humid, sweltering,  unbearable heat.  Still others deal with change as a season of autumn—everything we’ve known is falling like leaves to the ground.  Still others deal with change as a season of winter—the changes that have come have brought us to the “end time!”  

Change comes.  How do we manage it?  With trepidation? With fear?  With acceptance? With desperation?  With hopelessness?  How we deal with change makes all the difference in how we live our lives.