Change

When I was 6 years old Laura and my sister hid my “fool’s gold” rock from my rock collection in the ground somewhere.  We never found it (although they swear they marked it with crossed sticks, but do you know how many crossed sticks there were in our backyard?).  But regardless, Laura turned out to be my best friend for the next 12 years!  This is how my childhood was… I had best friends and they didn’t change.  My friends were my best friends ‘till I went to college.

We had, and have, a pseudo family of 6ish families that did almost everything together… church, birthdays, roller hockey, school, softball, etc.  No one ever moved, we just all stayed friends and did life together for years.  And they are all still there in Cary.  When I go home I get to see all my “moms” all together in the same place.  The kids have moved, but we all come home for Christmas.

Needless to say, I never really learned how to do change.

So now the Lord has me right smack dab in the middle of a very transient life.  I’m here for a year, there for two, traveling, seeing people, saying hello, saying goodbye, and still not really loving change.

This past week my dear friend Megan has been home from England visiting.  She is serving with MTW for a year in England and I haven’t seen her since last June!  Praise the Lord for skype because I got to pretend that I was there for a little while sitting with her family and my siblings in the Hodge’s family room (one of my favorite places in the world).  But it also made my heart hurt b/c I wish I could just be there with them pretending that things are exactly how they used to be before we lived oceans away from each other.

But then I think of all the joy that change has brought.  Little Jack and little Annie, Erin and Andrew entering the pseudo family, all my friends here in Costa Rica, college educations, new memories, travels, new lessons from the Lord.  And I realize that change isn’t all bad.  Its just hard.

So… I’m trying to learn what it looks like to “do change well”.  To rejoice in the past, enjoy the present, and look forward to the future while thanking the Lord for each step of the way.  I’ve been a whiner about change.  I’m not saying that is going to be different, but I would like to learn how to embrace it instead of complaining about it.