Change is Opportunity

Yesterday I was forced to face a cold reality. My neighbors (whom have also been members in our small group) packed up a moving truck and got ready to make their journey to their new home state. Long story short, but they have decided to make a new start in a new town and are officially moving this weekend. Although he's already been living there for a couple of months and she's been there with two of the kids, it hasn't really hit me until today...especially when I saw the moving truck drive off. I know we'll stay in touch, I know we'll email and chit chat and share pictures (after all, their baby is only three months older than Lane and she was supposed to be his 'girl next door') it's still really hard to see them leave.

I don't typically deal well with change. I can change furniture in a living room, hang a new picture on the wall, or even change how I do something (as long as it's better), and I'm fine. It's the big things that I have problems with. Maybe it's my Baptist roots coming out, but change, for me, is really hard.

When my mother remarried, I struggled quite a bit with it. It wasn't that I wasn't happy for her, or us for that matter...but it was a big change in our lives. Heck, when I got married I struggled with it. When I started new schools, I struggled. When I moved to new houses, I struggled. I just struggle with change.

And yes, I know, change can be good. Most of the time, change is good. How many times have I heard my mother tell me, "Life is full of changes, and change is opportunity"? I've heard it A LOT. And I know it's true. But it's still hard to adjust and get used to the 'new' way of doing things. And that goes for getting used to new teachers, sleeping under a new roof, sleeping next to someone, going to a different church, or even waving to different people when you get home. It's hard, but it's good.

It's funny that this week our small group did a study on 'living for today'. There was a paragraph that really stood out to me Wednesday and it seems to be repeating in my mind today.

"If you need to celebrate how good it was, then celebrate.
If you need to remember how great it was when they were alive, then remember that.
If you need to grieve, grieve.
If you need to apologize or make amends
or you need to do something to make peace with how it was,
then do it, but then, move on."

Right now, this speaks volumes to me.

Tuesday the house next door will officially belong to someone else. It's a couple in their early 60s. As weird as it will be for me, we'll make some brownies and head on over to meet them. I know it will be an opportunity for us to have new neighbors and make new friends...possibly even invite new folks to church. It'll still be hard, but it'll be an opportunity.

For now, I'm going to finish crying, wake up the babe, and head to our pastor's house for lunch. (we didn't make it to church...long story...another blog post maybe.) Then I'll come home, stare at the decorations my sweet neighbor gave me as she was cleaning out and say a little prayer for them to adjust to their own changes. I'll grieve, remember, pray, and look forward to the future.

And then I'll go see what they left sitting by the road.
'Cause some things, no matter how hard Ryan tries, never change.

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