I’ve been noticing that I don’t like change very much. I take that back. I like to rearrange furniture or organize rooms as a way to relax. The change I don’t like is the unexpected kind or the kind that distances me from what I love. I love the little years of my children’s childhoods. I want Christmas to last forever. I want to recreate the simplicity of my own childhood. I grieve when I finish a good book. I don’t want friends to move or pets to die or Christmas trees to droop or spring to fade or pools to close or the red leaves of fall to drop. I want eternity.

I’ve concluded that we cling to what we love: the seasons, the possessions, the people, the time. If something is working we want it to keep going; yet there’s an end to all things and a beginning to other things. This is the cycle of life and living. Every year we experience the ebb and flow of the seasonal tides and moons and weather patterns. Nothing lasts continually; every day there is a change in our person and in those around us. We are never the same person two days in a row. Change changes us.

And that can be hard to embrace. I want the familiar to remain. If I am successful at something, I want to keep doing it. If something is beautiful, I want to rest my eyes on it daily. If something brings me joy, I want to hold it close forever. My instinct is to resist the seasonal shift. But this resistance does not cultivate a peaceful heart. What does is the acceptance of the cycles which can evolve into anticipation.

Ironically, there is consistency in the seasons. We can remind ourselves that winter bursts into spring and spring dances into summer and summer fades into fall and fall retreats into winter Every. Single. Year. And so it is in relationships, in learning new skills, in discovering ourselves after another birthday, in acclimating to a new baby or new job or new state, and even in the loss of a loved one. We go through the stages of transition, trepidation, grief, and transformation; each stage is necessary for the growth that follows.

But there is one key element that cannot be overlooked. We don’t have to entirely relinquish clinging. There is One who never changes. Scripture reminds us that while the grass withers and the flower fades the Word of God will last forever. And not only are His words everlasting; HE is the beginning and the end. All things start and finish with Him. The Almighty God is the Keeper of Time and the Author of the Human Story. He is the anchor to which I cling when all around me changes. He is the joy I can hold close forever. He is the calm in the midst of my storm, the beauty upon which I can rest my eyes Every. Single. Day.