I met a man yesterday who said,"I love change!" Wow…not something you hear very often. He is an interim pastor so loving change is a very good thing in his line of work. His work is to come into a church that is in the midst of change, resisting change, grieving change, desiring change. How wonderful that he truly loves what most of us fear. He spends his days listening to people’s stories, helping them cope with and triumph through the inevitable……. change.

Change is difficult. It asks for patience. It requires giving up control. It begs for creativity. It insists on letting go. It demands faith. It implores us to listen…..to others, to ourselves.

But change is also the way of the Universe. We know now that the Universe is expanding which means it is changing all the time, becoming something different than it was…not yet what it will be. The way of the Universe is also the way of our lives, our relationships, our communities, our nations, our churches. We are all on a path that is changing….we are becoming something different than we have been….and we are not yet what we will be. Thinking of change that way is very exciting to me…..how about you?

How are you changing? What are you being asked to change in your life? What are the things you need to get rid of so change will happen? What are the things you need to acquire so change will be realized?

"The plow has savaged this sweet field…Misshapen clods of earth kicked up…Rocks and twisted roots exposed to view. Last year’s growth demolished by the blade. I have plowed my life this way…Turned over a whole history…Looking for roots of what went wrong…Until my face is ravaged, furrowed, scarred. Enough. The job is done. Whatever’s been uprooted, let it be…..Seedbed for the growing that’s to come. I plowed to unearth last year’s reasons-The farmer plows to plant a greening season."  Parker Palmer