“Soulful Journal”

I have a soul much like my journal. On the outside it’s torn, broken, and even a bit patched up on its back.  Its face bears the advice of those loved and respected printed on pale white canvass. Inside, its pages are filled with words, some smudged and misspelled, yet written with passion. On each page are the wonderings and tales, hopes and dreams of a young girl struggling to walk the high road despite her broken frame. Just keep turning those white pages lined with gold, for though sorrow, heartache and ugliness may well be seen, not one ends without hope. Each page holds the promise of a new beginning and a fresh start. Just keep turning those pages and diving deeper into my being, for though broken and torn, it won’t stop writing. Until each one is completed, my pen out of ink, and my hand too weary to hold it to paper, my soul won’t stop.

“Beauty In A Season”

This past summer a dear friend of mine gave me a plaque that says “If nothing ever changed there’d be no butterflies…” Think about that for a moment. Butterflies are some of my favorite of God’s creatures, but I often forget that they start as caterpillars wrapped up inside a cocoon.  If I had it my way, I’d wish away the change I didn’t like, but with that I would wish away butterflies without even realizing it.

Similarly, this photo attempts to capture the change the change that takes place in a leaf in autumn. A time when one beauty comes to an end and another begins; the in between season which waves goodbye to the summer heat and welcomes home another cold winter.  Though this leaf might bear the mark of change, and will never be the same again, with its death it brings about a new season. There is beauty in the change. I have had to deal with this change in my life as will you as we walk this sometimes weary life. I have experienced some of the best things that change can bring, and some hardships and things I still do not understand. Though we don’t always have a choice in what life’s changes bring at times, we do have a choice as to how we respond.

First, we can let it master us. We can be shot to our highest when change brings a mountain top experience and drug to our lowest when it brings us to the troughs. We can become led by our circumstances, instead of our Creator- constantly placing our happiness on life’s highs or becoming utterly devastated when we are brought low by change.

At the same time, we can fear change. We can become so comfortable with the way our lives are now and so afraid of the unknown. Clinging so tightly to our surroundings and circumstances instead of our Creator, we will hinder ourselves from ever being able to accept things that are far greater for us.

In contrast, we can “role with its punches” if you will. We can be thankful, make the most of change, and enjoy the journey. This decision may sound as if you are trying to be fake or that change isn’t hard, but the reality is, there is always hope. Though I cannot control what happens to me and those around me at times, as a believer in Christ, we have the knowledge of who God is in our lives. We cling to the changeless Christ.  And when we learn to role with the punches that life brings, we may even find that there is beauty in the change.

Like a caterpillar changing to a butterfly, will you get trapped in doing what is known to you, or will you embrace the change and let it make you into a beautiful new creation? Like a leaf in the autumn, dying to who it once was, will you allow yourself to be shaped by your season?  Though it may be hard, or though it may be easy; though it may be happy, or though it may be sad, find hope in the clinging to the changeless Christ and rejoice in your change. There is beauty in a season.