My life is in a constant state of change. About the time I figure out how chores and household management run most efficiently, one child gains maturity in some area and needs a change in responsibility. About the time we figure out how we can best handle the school year, something comes along that requires a tweak to the schedule. About the time we figure out a menu plan that is perfect for the season we’re in, a new season rolls around.
For the past few months I’ve felt mostly on top of our homeschool schedule, but not my personal schedule. I’ve fallen behind in several things, and have had to really re-evaluate my agenda to get back on top of what needs to be done. I’m slowly getting back to the place where I can follow my personal schedule pretty well, but I’m also discovering some things that are lacking that have never lacked before. A change in my own level of activity, and a change in what my children are capable of, has left me with issues I’ve never experienced before.
On the one hand, I’d love to find a way to just settle in and maintain for a little while. To make some schedule habits. To not have to make adjustments. But, as soon as I begin to wish for that, I wonder how crazy I would end up doing the same thing week after week with no adjustment and no interruptions! It just isn’t me! I like change. I need it. I crave it. Yet, I think a little less of the insanity might be helpful.
Some people don’t need the change like I do. They thrive on just the opposite. Habit, consistency, and maintaining the status quo are crucial to their personal sanity. But, how many times do they really get that consistency they crave? Even they have to deal with the reality that life changes.
There is a reason why we can never be perfectly stable. Growth rarely occurs in stability. True, we can learn knowledge, but we can’t truly grow without something to challenge our status quo. Our maturity is the result of our ever-changing lives. This is not only true of our spiritual lives, but every other aspect of life as well.
Think about physical growth. Children’s bodies are constantly changing to mature them to adults. Adults then have to adapt to the fact that their bodies are continually aging, and we must make regular adjustments in our eating and activity habits to keep up with our body changes.
Every aspect of who we are changes regularly. The question is this: what do we do with those changes? How do we handle them? Do we allow them to grow us or destroy us? Do we allow them to equip us or paralyze us?
As I begin to implement some adjustments today, my hope is that my choices are allowing me to grow with the necessary changes. I pray that they will equip me to live life to a fuller extent and be ready when new adjustments need to be made in a few weeks, months, or even years.
Not Quite Ordinary 