A long cloud with a very defined edge got my attention today. I don’t study cloud shapes often but it was so long and straight that I noticed it and did a double take. Clouds are interesting. I’m no meteorologist, but I remember from science lessons that there are different types.
Some are fluffy and harmless and make us thing of beautiful days. Some are dark, ominous and bring storms. I realized while looking at the clouds this morning that today looked just like yesterday and the last several days before but it wasn’t the same. There was one key difference I was noticing. It was much cooler.
The breeze blowing those fluffy clouds around also brought about a 20 degree difference in temperature today. After a string of days in the 90s it is very noticeable when you have one in the 70s. I couldn’t see this change. Everything looked the same to me. It happened quickly, too. It didn’t bring rain that often leads to a shift in temperature. Thanks to weather forecasting and good technology, we knew it was coming. There was a time, though, when we wouldn’t have known this change was coming.
It makes me wonder about how much of life is like this. Sometimes we just wake up and something has happened to change everything. Maybe our world looks mostly the same but it feels different. Sometimes as we age we just start to see things differently. I struggle with sudden change. Maybe you do, too. Not all change is bad, but we don’t always see it that way. We are often scared of it or just unsure that it will make things better.
Occasionally, we look forward to it if we know it’s coming or if we know we need it. I never get more excited about change than with a change of scenery that means I’m getting a vacation. Sometimes a bad situation changes for the better.
There aren’t many certainties in life but one thing for sure is that change, like it or not, will come. Death comes. Sickness comes. New babies come. Children grow. Marriages come and go. Jobs end. Friendships change. Goodness, we even change our minds. We can’t always control the change, but we can remember that God is the same yesterday, today and forever.
God changes the times and seasons but He is always with us, regardless of what those seasons bring. We can be assured that if we seek His will, He will take care of us. I love Romans 12:2: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” That’s the New King James version which uses the word transformed. The definition of transformed refers to “dramatic change.”
That same text in The Message says “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
I don’t know about you all, but I definitely want God to bring out the best in me. How much better would the world be if we were allowing God to bring out the best of more of us?
To me this means I need to focus less on those external variables that lead to change and more on the One who doesn’t change. Friends I think this is how we cope and survive whatever change life throws at us. When God changes us from the inside out, it is most definitely dramatic. Focusing on an unchanging God keeps us from spiraling out of control. It sets our priorities and our footing. It gives us hope and something solid to hold on to when that outside change comes blowing in.
