Back in 2008 two men were running for mayor in a small Romanian village. The incumbent, one of the two candidates, died suddenly. It was too late to reprint the ballots or call off the election, so it proceeded. Despite his death, the incumbent was re-elected. “I know he died,” one villager told reporters, “but I don’t want change.”
Aren’t we all a bit like that villager? We can stare down reality, knowing full well that something dear to us is no longer the same, and despite it all, we say, I don’t want change!
Why do we avoid change? What is familiar is comforting. In a world with so much change, sticking with the familiar is safe and easy. For some, a sense of lethargy sets in. For some, fear takes hold. What if I don’t like change? What if I can’t manage in the new situation? What if I’m no longer valued because what I do is no longer needed?
Trust that change will not destroy you. And know that one thing will never change: God’s love for us all.
This message was adapted from “Embrace Change” written by Linda Post Bushkofsky that first appeared in the June 2011 issue of Lutheran Woman Today (now Gather) magazine. Today is the 24th Sunday after Pentecost and it’s also #CleanOutYourRefrigeratorDay. So if you took a day of rest yesterday, clean out and change up your fridge today. After church, of course.
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