The change that changes everything

‘I  take you, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, until death do us part…”

This may sound familiar to you, or maybe not. I can’t know when you were last blessed to attend a wedding ceremony. I had the opportunity recently when a friend of mine got married and I was invited to be a part of their special day.

It got me thinking though. They were willingly and joyfully uniting themselves to each other for life in the amazing union of marriage, yes. They were witnessing their love, in front of the community of their family and friends, in this special and beautiful ceremony. But thinking back, they were also committing to whatever changes their future marriage would bring into their lives.

For all of us, life never stays the same for very long. Things change from year to year, one day to the next, or even in a second. We’re all heading into a time of change right now.

Maybe you’re moving to a new place, or just finished school and looking forward to beginning varsity and a new chapter, maybe it’s a new job you’re starting in January, you’re hoping for a change in perspective, or some other adventure that’s around the corner that you don’t know about.

This is the time of year when we maybe begin thinking of New Year’s resolutions, and changes we want to make in our lives for 2012.

Whatever it may be, Christmas Day marked one of the biggest changes to our world in the whole of human history. The day when God became man in order to enter our world and redeem us, so we could be with him for all eternity! Our lives may be changing, but what happened on Christmas morning changed everything…forever.

Jesus entered our world so that we would never be alone. Not in one single second of change in our lives are we left to fend for ourselves. As God said to Joshua, so he says to us: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:5).

Our God is one constant which we have in our lives, no matter what is going on. Our faith is one rock on which we can stand when everything around is shifting and moving. “God-with-us” is here and he wants to walk with us through everything—from school, to studies, to work, to marriage, to retirement, to death.

So, may you be encouraged and comforted if you’re a bit nervous about what path lies in front of you as you head into the New Year. May you be open to the change that God wishes you to grow through, whatever it may be.

If things need to change, I pray that you depend on the rock that is our God and offer up the discomfort. Sometimes we need to learn to become comfortable with being uncomfortable for a while, in order to discover the lessons that God has planned for us.

I hope you have a Christmas in awe of God’s presence in those around you and a 2012 full of lessons of faith!