Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from “The Adult Sabbath School Guide” is titled “Preparing for Change”. A good study on the “changes that sooner or later, in one way or another, most of us face and how these changes can impact family life” (quarterly for Sabbath April 13). And so this week’s lesson looks at “Unprepared”, “Preparing for Marriage”, Preparing for Parenting”, Preparing for Old Age”, and “Preparing for Death”. All good daily lessons. I hope you study each. Not just for yourself but to be of assistance to those who may be preparing for each of the listed 5 life-changing events.
But I’d like to write this week on changes that are not listed for our daily topics of study. As the quarterly for Sabbath, April 13 states: “Often, changes come unexpectedly. We are going along in a routine when, suddenly, instantly, everything changes, and we are caught completely off guard”. The changes listed in our daily lessons are changes that we can anticipate… and prepare for. But what of these other changes? The changes we do not expect? Are there ways to prepare for the unexpected? And if so, is the preparation for the unexpected a way to prepare for the anticipated changes, too? I think so.
I’m sure many of us reading this today have gone-through some of the changes listed in our daily topics. Most of us are not children. And these life “milestones” are part of our past. Maybe some of us are at the “Preparing for Death” topic and most of the other daily topics listed in our lesson are behind us. So preparing for changes we can anticipate is “old hat” to us. We know what these “mile-marker” changes are like and are bracing ourselves for (or readily embracing) the approaching change. But most of us have also experienced unexpected changes. Changes that come “out of the blue” and are so much more life-changing than the anticipated changes. In fact, the unexpected changes can be absolutely devastating. Next week, our lesson topic is “When Alone”. So I do not want to hover over any of the changes that leave us “alone”. But look at unexpected changes, in general.
As stated in a previous “thought”, we humans look for stability and security in our lives. It’s one of our life goals… to create a life that is consistent, reliable, sustainable… and comfortable. So any unexpected change has the potential to really “throw us”. But this change, this unexpected change, is only unexpected to us. Not unexpected to God. In fact, our Father-God knows way in advance of this change that is unexpected to us. Our Father has been preparing us for this change in ingenious ways. And the preparation he gives is most effectual if we are in a tight, abiding relationship with Him. This is the way to be prepared for all changes. For the unexpected… and for the anticipated, too.
Every moment of every day, our all-wise and all-loving Father is teaching us, leading us, preparing us, maturing us, helping us to grow-up in Him. Every event, every experience has a lesson-seed within it. If we are indolent children and lazy students, then the lessons of love are missed. The lessons of each day are wasted and we remain in a perpetual state of suspended adolescence. Adolescents:
- Switch mood rapidly, dithering between happiness, anguish, self-confidence and anxiety. Some of these shifts in mood result from complex social interactions.
- Try to discover where they fit in with peers and their place in society. More often, adolescents experience an unsteady sense of self.
- Often seek opinions from and perceptions of their friends; they are readily influenced by their peers’ behaviors and beliefs.
- Are characterized by their search for independence.
- Develop a self-centered attitude and look at situations from their own perspectives.
These brief bullets can describe you and me… IF we keep our Father at arm’s length and never form an abiding relationship with Him. For some of us, our relationship with God is like the Sabbath day. A once-a-week occurrence. But this is not an abiding relationship. This is not a tight, loving relationship where everything is shared continually throughout each day… where every experience is brought to Him. In an abiding relationship with our Father, every experience has meaning… a lesson… that the attentive can learn. And these lessons are lessons full of love… IF we are in a loving relationship with our “Husband”. Then, each event, each experience has the ability to connect us tighter and still tighter to the “One” we love. So that no event, no experience, no anticipated change, and no unexpected change can ever really “throw us”. Even the final change (death) doesn’t “throw us”. All changes and events are seen as coming from His hand.
To close, let me cite that great quotation from EGW, found in Mount of Blessing pg. 71:
“The Father's presence encircled Christ, and nothing befell Him but that which infinite love permitted for the blessing of the world. Here was His source of comfort, and it is for us. He who is imbued with the Spirit of Christ abides in Christ. The blow that is aimed at him falls upon the Savior, who surrounds him with His presence. Whatever comes to him comes from Christ. He has no need to resist evil, for Christ is his defense. Nothing can touch him except by our Lord's permission, and ‘all things’ that are permitted ‘work together for good to them that love God.’ Romans 8:28.”
Amen and Amen!
With brotherly love,
Jim