I often say (somewhat cautiously) that I like change. For one thing, I’m in the business of change — is there any greater change than the kind of life transformation (i.e., change!) people experience through Christ?
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Corinthians 5.17, NLT)
Leaders are change agents. Christ-following leaders are called to bring about change in people’s lives. Often that involves being an agent of change in the way the church operates so that it can be more effective, and thus, bear more fruit for God’s kingdom.
I say “somewhat cautiously” (that I like change) because it’s easy for leaders to say they like change, especially if the change is their idea! The real test of their commitment to change comes when the change is someone else’s idea.
But I think I’m safe saying I like change. I get bored when things stay the same too long. Not only is it boring; worse, it produces ruts which keep us from being effective!
Now that Ethan has been with us for a while, he is teaching us some things about change. Not only have we had to change the way we do life, we’ve also paid attention to the changes he experiences through his daily growth and development. Much of that is positive. It’s exciting to watch him learn new things and develop new skills (watch for more on that in an upcoming post).
But (and this is why many people do not like change!) with change also comes loss. To begin doing new things involves letting go of other things. To do something a different way means not doing it the old way anymore.
After two weeks of taking a step here and there, all of a sudden one day, Ethan changed his preference from crawling to walking. He gave up crawling (which was working just fine, thank you very much) for walking (even though it meant having to relearn his whole concept of getting around; it also meant falling a lot, in the process).
Some of the things Ethan used to do or say, he doesn’t do or say anymore (including some of the things we listed earlier in Some of Our Favorite Things).
While we miss some of those things, we realize that change comes with the territory. It’s all part of growing up! (and I’m not just talking about the getting older kind of growing up 😉 ).
Hello, thanks for this bogg. I really needed to read this. As you know Miss Isabella is growing up soo fast too. It was nice to read this and have a chance to reflect back upon some things too. Thanks for the posting. It was greatly appreciated. Ethan is tooooo cute.