"Change"

Change is seldom easy,

And that’s because it brings,

Something not so breezy,

However true it rings.

Takes from you the comfort zone,

You’ve been living in,

Makes you sometimes scream and groan,

Good-bye to where you’ve been.

Not just from bad habit,

But patterns that are good,

Where demons oft inhabit,

And good to greatness should.

Launching is the hardest,

Because you leap by faith,

Not to be alarmist,

But hard to leave unscathed.

But wounds and pain from travel,

From one goal to the next,

Never will unravel,

If we follow God’s own text.

And when it comes to virtue,

And that best life of all,

The Spirit gives His nurture,

And we hear Christ’s own call.

It’s glory unto glory,

Transformed by awesome grace,

And change becomes the story,

Of how you ran the race.

So embrace change, my brother,

And sister, don’t hold back,

Today is like no other,

And change keeps us on track.

“…let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think…” (Rom. 12:2)

God is in the transforming business, and He does it from the inside out. Success has and always will be an “inside job.” And spiritual success is the most important of all. He changes our thinking, or as the older translation says, He renews our minds. Renewing our minds means the Holy Spirit within us challenges our mental habits. If He can break those patterns and cause us to think like Jesus, our behavior will follow. The point is that following Jesus is a journey of change that does not end until we get to heaven. Change may be uncomfortable at times, but the freedom of becoming more and more like Jesus is unparalleled. There is no greater adventure!

Lord, help us to embrace the change You want to make in our thinking and in our lives, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Mary Ross Buchholz, maryrossbuchholz.com. Use by permission. Thanks, Mary, and God bless you.