Progress through Change

There has been a lot of change around our home lately.  Change is something that has always frightened me, deeply.  A lot of my anxiety and phobias have stemmed from a dysfunctional need to keep things as they are.  Almost as if protecting what already exists will guard me against the negative inevitabilities of life.

But through my attempts to give my fears sanctuary, I have also safeguarded my life against the types of changes that foster progress and encourage positive development. 

C. S. Lewis indicated there is often pain in change when he wrote of God’s expectations for His children: “Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace” (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, New York: MacMillan Co., 1960, p. 160).

In his 1979 General Conference address, Marvin J. Ashton agreed, "Yes, there is pain in change, but there is also great satisfaction in recognizing that progress is being achieved. Life is a series of hills and valleys and often the best growth comes in the valleys.  It has been said by Bruce Barton that, “When we’re through changing, we’re through.” There is no age when we are too old or too young or just too middle-aged to change. Perhaps old age really comes when a person finally gives up the right, challenge, and joy of changing. We should remain teachable. How easy it is to become set. We must be willing to establish goals whether we are sixty, seventy, fifty, or fifteen. Maintain a zest for life. Never should there be a time when we are unwilling to improve ourselves through meaningful change" ( http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1979/10/progress-through-change?lang=eng).

I have really been coming to understand lately that if I want things to improve in my life, something has to be different.  Something must change.  I have to be willing to make changes.  Of course, not all change is positive, just as all movement isn't forward, so I'm trying take more researched, self-reflected, and planned initiatives. 

"It is for us to pray not for tasks equal to our powers, but for powers equal to our tasks, to go forward with a great desire forever beating at the door of our hearts as we travel toward our distant goal."

                                                                                                                                      Helen Keller

Lyla Rose- Denver Botanic Gardens 2013