Thoughts On Change

There is a three word saying I’m sure you’ve all heard. 

CHANGE IS INEVITABLE.

In life, we seem to approach some changes with excitement and anticipation - the start of a new school year, the arrival of a perfect brand new grandbaby, the beginning of a new family when a couple gets married, the return of a missionary who has been gone for two whole years. And yet, other changes are met with dread, sadness and even fear - like the devastating loss of a family member, or the world shutting down due to a pandemic, or an unfavorable medical diagnosis, or the sudden end of a friendship, or a family member leaving the church, or a ward splitting, or even a beloved bishop being released (which happened to be my husband yesterday).

These are all changes that I have personally experienced in the last five years. Maybe you have experienced some of these changes too. I’ve learned that it’s really true: Change is inevitable. And sometimes change is just really, really HARD.

In the hymn Abide With Me, there is a line describing the Savior I love that says: “Oh Thou who changest not, abide with me.” 

Jesus Christ is unchanging in His love for us, in His ability to heal us, and in His role as our Savior and Redeemer. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Sometimes, especially when I’m going through a difficult change, I find it ironic that the one who changeth not, consistently asks me to do the changing. 

The author CS Lewis compared each of us to a living house that God is trying to rebuild. At first he makes repairs we know we need, like fixing a leaky roof. But then he starts knocking the house around in confusing and sometimes uncomfortable ways. “The explanation,” he wrote, “is that he is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - you thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage, But he is building a palace and He intends to come live in it himself.”

It has taken me a majority of my adult life to finally understand that our Father in Heaven and Savior know the beginning from the end and that the changes that occur in my life are A) meant  for my good, B) a sign of progress and C) helping me become more like Jesus Christ. 

Our son Soren, who is serving in Japan, recently shared a quote with us that his mission president uses often: “There is no growth in the comfort zone, and there is no comfort in the growth zone.” Boy, did that resonate with me. I often want things to stay exactly as they are because it is nice, and easy, and comfortable. But I know I’m not being stretched when that is the case and in fact, my progress has in a way halted. It’s when I’m willing or sometimes even forced to change that I rely more on the Savior and see myself BECOMING what he wants me to be, even if it is uncomfortable for a time.

It has been my experience that our unchanging Savior is willing and able to walk with us and even carry us through every change we experience in this life. I know that He is there in the stretching and growing and hard. I know that change, even when hard, can be for my good. 

I’m going to make a concerted effort going forward to lean into the changes I am experiencing in my life, good or hard, and find the Savior there in those moments. I know he is there. Because change is inevitable, but so his His help.