Change, for better or worse?

Life is not static, human beings are not static, heck, even static is not static. Things are always changing, always in transition, always becoming something different.

I am one of those 'things'. So are you.

It's interesting that as much as our existence is based on change, it still is uncomfortable to us at times.

As a human being, I still feel like quite a wreck much of the time, but even I have been changing. Yes, in the last few months my internal world has been shifting and adjusting, groaning and creaking under the weight of new ideas and thoughts and questions and passions. Probably not all of the changing has been entirely good, and only time will likely tell what would fall under that category, but I can say with honesty that most of it has been to my benefit as a person who desires to love more.

I love my friends, most of the time, and they had begun to be concerned with these changes, or at least some of them. It's just interesting how we all perceive things differently, as there are those who have seen some of these changes as being positive and others who have seen them as being negative. I'm okay with that, but it sure can get confusing in trying to sort out which one is more 'right', right?

I can honestly say that I am more committed to Jesus, to the church, to discipleship, to caring for the downtrodden and encouraging the wayward, than I have been in a long time. And yet it always seems that anything appearing negative outweighs all that is good. I get that, I really do, but to me it's still pretty friggin' dumb.

Regardless of the gross misunderstandings and utterly absurd perceptions from others that sometimes arise, let us continue to hold one another accountable, not in a negative and discouraging way but in a way that encourages, that helps one another forward rather than pushing each other back. Let us be willing to embrace conflict and examine with honesty the concerns of others that we might run the race well, unhindered.

Let us enter into dialogue and learn to love one another more fully, standing unified in our diversity, accepting points of view that don't make sense to us and wrestling with them, rather than fighting with the individual.

That sounds like a good thing, don't you think?