I enjoyed Labor Day weekend. I hope you enjoyed your day off because the next one won’t be until…the holidays. Enjoy September, because by the beginning of October the stores will be in full holiday mode. When I was a kid stores didn’t start putting out Christmas stuff until the week of Thanksgiving. Times change.

            I am not a big fan of change. Even when things ultimately change for the better, I have a tendency to resist. I want things to stay the same… provided that they are currently good. When difficult times come, then I am ready for change.

            Time seems to be the cruelest element of change. Have you seen a picture of yourself from ten years ago? Time is not always kind to our bodies. Time stole my eyesight and my hair and I am not happy about it. I pulled something the wrong way the other day. When I was young I could just shake it off, now it takes days to feel better.

            The big change and time question for me is when will I retire? I love being a teacher, but if I want to explore other things in life…time is slipping away. My colleagues have been asking me for the last couple of years, “Is this your last year?” Thankfully, that change decision is not totally mine. I am waiting to hear from upstairs.

            Time continues to move forward and change continues to affect our lives. There have been some small, insignificant changes in my life recently, and they have been good. I didn’t think I would like them, but I did. As I reflect on these changes, I realize that God is trying to show me that change can be a good thing.

           Part of dealing with time and change is our faith. We can’t stop time so we have to accept the changes that time brings. Some changes we will like, others we won’t. Either way, we can learn to accept those changes through faith. God wants us to believe and trust Him through the maze of changes we all face. If we know that God has seen our future and He plans to walk into it with us, then we can trust Him with all the details.

            I can choose to worry, and lay awake at night trying to figure out my future and how it is going to look, or I can choose to trust the one who holds my future in His hands. I hate to admit it, but I have been lying in bed worrying. God has been working overtime trying to convince me to trust in Him.

            Every day of our lives brings about changes; some we can choose and control others, are delivered to our doorstep. The changes we choose seem to be easier to accept than those thrust upon us. If I choose to retire verses being forced into retirement, it changes everything from my perspective. Either way I have to choose to believe God is in control. No matter what news we receive today, we have to choose to believe that God is still in control.

            The future is one of those unknowns. Who really knows what tomorrow will hold? Could any of us have imagined on September 10^th what was going to happen on September 11^th in 2001? As I pray about the future, God keeps whispering to me about adventure and tasks he is planning for me. I can’t imagine ever being bored as I have so much that I want to do. I have many friends who have been and continue to be active in their late 70’s and 80’s.

           Time will continue to march on and change will continue to affect our lives. I know who holds time in His hands and He knows how to see me through the changes up ahead. In the end it comes down to my choice, how will I react to what arrives on my doorstep? Will I trust God and believe in His goodness or will I live in doubt and fear?

            I want to encourage you to put your future and all the changes up ahead into the hands of God. God is bigger than any changes and stronger than any opposition. God knows the way through the situations and He promises to never leave you or forsake you. I don’t know what the future holds, but I know who holds mine. I am going to choose to enter tomorrow holding doubt and fear at bay because I know who holds all my tomorrows.

Contact Doug at  doug@dougcreamer.com