Schools of all kinds are back in session this week and those start-ups remind us of how fast things change around us. Both of our grandchildren are now in the “school flow” and it is hard to believe how quickly they came to this time. It seems like we were just holding them in our arms at the hospital and letting them sleep on our shoulders. In fact, with our daughter’s birthday approaching next month, it truly seems like a “blink” since I held her in my arms the night of her birth realizing the world had just changed for us – every thought and decision, and dream was impacted by that little life – our joy!
Change comes regularly and keeps us on our toes. We thank God for the joys of life as growth and learning take place. And we thank him for his strength and presence when the tough things happen.
In the movie version of Isak Dinesen’s book, Out of Africa, Meryl Streep’s character, Karen Blixen, says to Robert Redford’s character: “I know now why the world is round and not flat…So you can’t see but a little way down the road.” Illness was soon to overpower her. Those hard days do come eventually because life changes are our reality.
We once visited Karen Blixen’s house “at the foot of the Ngong hills” just outside Nairobi, Kenya. I’m sure were she alive today she would marvel at the change of scenery as the Nairobi sprawl has come all the way out to her house as roads were built and people moved closer to the city. Little by little changes occur around us – some more perceptible and dramatic than others – so we are left to face them.
So, for the inevitable turns in the road, the changes life brings to us, the ones we celebrate and the ones we are forced to navigate, it is to us to hold to that which is unchanging, even Jesus, of whom the Hebrews’ writer penned this truth: “We have this hope as an anchor for our souls, firm and secure” (Heb. 6:19). Jesus is our hope, and he keeps us focused on God’s strong presence for each one of life’s twists and turns. And so, we are thankful!
In the Love of Jesus,
Tony Tench