Wonder of Change

I am often amazed that I have seen the start of things. I remember a world that “once was” and now is different. Life is not all a retreat, a moment of activity with no impact on the future. Each day progresses from the previous night. One cannot escape untouched.

Today I was marveling over a little thing: I saw the beginning of Soup or Salad, of Jason’s Deli, and of Sweet Tomatoes. These eateries represented a fad in dining. Now, while they still stand offering soup, salad, subs, or a buffet of vegetarian cuisine, they are not as popular. A fast food fashion gone out is the Pizza Hut buffet. For a while I remember big banners attracting many patrons to the local Pizza Hut for their sample of as many kinds of pizza as you could crave (along with salad and the best part – chocolate pudding). Where once stood our dine-in franchise is now a Greek restaurant, slowly transforming the Pizza Hut trademark building by paint and through renovations.

Last week at church I realized – and how often I laugh at the obvious things that require realization – that my involvement in the women’s ministry is not temporary. I am not anonymous. Things I do there cannot be undone. Relationships are being built; truth acquired, and change FOREVER affected. People feel towards me, think thoughts about me. And the marvelous thing is that I feel towards them, rejoicing when they rejoice and weeping when they weep. I think of them during the week. Quotes, verses, communications arise that I want to send to them.

When I was younger, the world was, and I was content (usually). There was no Jason’s Deli, and I did not care. Pizza Hut served lunch buffet for $3.99 and I took it for granted. There was an embracing community, but it had always existed as far as I knew, and ever would. Experience has birthed wonder in me. First I experienced loss, and change. So the world was not stable as I had depended. No, it is ever-changing, ever-growing. I can be a part of maturing.

Change brought me to my knees. When first life revealed itself a fluid sea, and not a bedrock, I cried out in bitter lost-ness. My reaction was not “What is this?!” with the triumphant curiosity, but a “Why not that?” the childish know-it-all nature that says, “I pronounced my world good, and it changed. Who’s responsible?” Isn’t it productive to ask questions, though?

Who is responsible? In the search for a culprit I found the anchor, the stability in a world of change. With confidence that God is I AM, the unchanging One, I can laugh with wonder at the new mercies every morning, the new gifts rained down on me. More, I can join in the activity, pushing my world and my life toward strength and growth and health. Still He astounds me. Still the realization of something that ought to have been obvious brings a smile to my face.

To God be all glory.