It's Winter, but Springs Coming!

They're back! This could be a picture from last year's ice hockey games on our back pond, but it's this year - 2008. And it's cold! I'm really not trying to have an ongoing saga of the "Pond-Out-Back", but it is one of the main reasons we bought this house. We'll never have another house build behind us - unless it's a houseboat. Actually, this picture just makes me think of change. That dirty word so many who claim to be being changed into the image of Christ hate. The pond out back changes nearly every day, depending on the weather, the critters that live there and visit, and the people who are attracted to it to "frow woks," watch the turtles, fish, or just enjoy the peaceful setting. It made me think about the inevitability of change. We can ignore it and pretend that it's not happening - but it never stops. Sometimes it just happens so slowly that you wake up one day and say, "Wow, when did that happen?" How come Joe looks so old all of a sudden? When did we stop singing those old songs at church? Why is my beard white? Why do I say "Remember when" so much?

I like to think that I love change. I do! I get excited about it - most of the time. But am I as excited about change when it's not so comfortable? When it's not what I want? Am I a selective lover of change? Why do I find myself liking the predictable more than I used to? That's scary. Like the song says, "Seasons change and so do I." So why fight it? Especially when I want to Be Real about being as much like Jesus as I possibly can be! Boy, is that ever a prescription for change! But I embrace it - long for it - and get a little giddy just thinking about what that's going to be like. Let me tell ya - that's a change in thinking that didn't happen overnight. So - yeah, bring on the next season, whatever it needs to be.