Anyone who has seen the ocean has noticed the effects of the tide. It comes and goes with the regularity of the rotation of the earth, rising and falling twice each day.
Life, like the tide, is never truly static. But unlike the tide, the rise and fall of life circumstances is neither stable nor regular. Thus, we go through seasons of change - transitional times when everything becomes different than it was.
We grow to adulthood and move away from our parents - we change. We find a life partner and marry - we change. We produce offspring, and their presence dramatically changes our lifestyle and circumstance. Then, they grow up and leave our homes - we change.
While some changes in our lives are sudden, traumatic, or dramatic, most are like the changing of the tide - slow, steady, and almost imperceptible. Only when we realize that the way things were is no longer the way things are, do we deal with that change.
Recently, the tide of life took a turn for me. At first, I was not really aware that such a great change had occurred, only a small one at best. I was not ready for the adjustment I needed to make, so I resisted. But the inexorable insistence of a changing life tide made it impossible not to recognize the changes which were occurring. I embraced them, new perspectives, an adjusted career track, a different outlook on the responsibilities I was carrying, and a greater willingness to be used by the Lord in a different way. These were the results of that change.
Perhaps God is doing something in your life which is requiring an adjustment you are not ready to make. If so, rest assured you will either change with the tide or be swept out to sea. You cannot stand still if the Lord wants you to move.
For me, the change has marked a fresh outlook, a greater opportunity, and hopefully a more effective ministry. From my earliest days of ministry, I was always the one who pressed for change - until that need overwhelmed me. Then, I became like so many "old fogies"... slow to adjust, and resistant to something outside of my comfort zone.
Thank God, I made the adjustment before I drowned. I pray you will, too.
