Five Tips for Processing Change
God has wired us to find comfort, security, and identity in the familiar, the routine, our customs and traditions. Losing them or changing them can throw us off balance and that’s uncomfortable.
God has wired us to find comfort, security, and identity in the familiar, the routine, our customs and traditions. Losing them or changing them can throw us off balance and that’s uncomfortable.
We can use a lot of energy and resources in our lives to build up our internal sense of worth or to form an identity for ourselves. Who we believe we are defines how we behave.
The church has always been known for its resolute spirit. Problems occur, though, when we think that because the church’s message is changeless, the church’s methods must be changeless too. How can we expect to make a difference in a rapidly changing world if we’re living in the past? Are we ready for the changes the future will bring?
We want to be right (as we see it, of course) more than we want to love our neighbours as ourselves. At that point our personal preferences eclipse any evidence of love. I am of the firm conviction that where grace exists, so must various areas of grey.
Why do people keep telling us to look for the light at the end of the tunnel? That the world is wonderful? That life is a bowl of cherries? Here’s the truth—life apart from God is the pits.
We meet all sorts of people on our path. Some we meet only briefly, and yet God uses seemingly insignificant events to shape us. The people we meet on our path leave us forever changed, and we do the same for them.
Like the Japanese art of Kintsugi, in which a potter creates priceless treasures by fusing broken pieces of porcelain together with gold, the Lord fills the cracks in our lives with the glowing gold of second chance.
The church has always been known for its resolute spirit. Problems occur, though, when we think that because the church’s message is changeless, the church’s methods must be changeless too. How can we expect to make a difference in a rapidly changing world if we’re living in the past? Are we ready for the changes the future will bring?
Sid Vicious is an example of the downward spiral of someone living with no sense of worth. If you’re wondering if your life has any value, consider this: the God who created the universe has written your name on the palms of His hands.
If you allow it, tragedy can pull you closer to the Lord than you’ve ever been. God doesn’t leave you in hard times, He comes closer and He stays nearer.