The word “Change” can be either a noun or a verb and both definitions are similar. As a noun, its definition is: “the act or instance of making or becoming different.” As a verb, its definition is: “make or become different.” Either way, it’s about something being one way and then becoming different somehow.
Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher, is famous for a quote you may have heard: “Change is the only constant in life.” His point was that nothing – NOTHING – in this world is permanent. If something in this world appears permanent and unchanging, then it’s simply an illusion because everything is in a constant state of change.
We are part of creation – God’s creation – and, when we look around us, we can see change happening throughout creation all the time! The weather changes – sometimes dramatically and within hours – but definitely from day to day and week to week. The seasons change as the months go by. Plants and trees grow and die. Tides come in and go out – but sea levels change over time as well. (We know this because science allows us to measure things more precisely than we ever could before; even minute changes that are only noticeable over the course of years – we can measure those and see that these things are changing.)
And as part of creation, change occurs among humans too. We transform over time – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually – whether we want to admit it or not. Especially in hindsight, we are able to see and understand changes in religion, politics, the economy, and almost every aspect of human civilization. No matter how hard anyone has ever tried, no one has been able to stop things from changing.
So why do so many people resist change? If it’s part of the natural order – God’s order for creation – why do so many people fight change and stress out about it?
We’re born – we grow and learn – getting bigger, stronger and smarter (hopefully). But at some point, we stop “growing up” and start “growing old.” Some people fight that by refusing to change how they live their lives. They refuse to admit that their bodies – parts of God’s creation – are changing. They shouldn’t eat as much (but they do). They should get more sleep (but they don’t). They should drink less and not smoke and choose healthier foods and get up and exercise more… but they refuse to change their habits because they pretend that nothing else has changed (but it has).
Other people go to the opposite extreme. They try to change everything they’re doing – and start doing all kinds of crazy stuff – in an attempt to keep their bodies from changing. They try to stop growing older! They avoid unhealthy lifestyle choices and pour their energy into exercise programs and juice cleanses and fad diets and they choke down a handful of vitamins and supplements every day! They believe it’s possible to avoid the inevitability of aging if they just try hard enough. Ironically, the stress of it all can be overwhelming and a lot of folks resort to things like cosmetic surgery to at least maintain the illusion that they’re retaining their youth.
Here’s the point: Change is inevitable and avoiding it will usually end up hurting you more than the change itself. By fighting against the order that God gave to creation, you cause huge amounts of internal frustration and stress – and your resistance to change can end up doing a lot more harm than good.
I get it. Change can be scary. By definition, it’s not completely known – it’s different than what we’ve become familiar with – what we’ve become comfortable with. And we assume that if we’re comfortable and happy (enough) right now, then changing to something different means we WON’T be comfortable and we WON’T be happy. But that’s not really logical, is it? Because you can feel happy and comfortable about lots and lots of things! And MANY, MANY different situations!
I’m not saying that every change you experience results in something good (or better) for you. In fact, the outcome of a particular change could actually be bad for you – but I believe that change itself is intrinsically “good” because it’s all part of God’s order for creation. Change is inevitable across creation because God made it so. Knowing that, why would we resist and fight change? In a way, doesn’t that mean we’re resisting and fighting against God’s plan? I think we’ll be much better off if we embrace change as part of God’s will and then do our best to just roll with it. Change is going to happen – so why not make the best of it?