The Times, They are A-Changin'

I've heard it said that the only thing constant in this world is change. My life certainly proves that to be true. I'm typing this column on a laptop, using a blog, and submitting it by email to my editor. Laptops, blogs and email have all come into being since I graduated from college (and, no, I'm not THAT old). Cell phones, blu-rays, cds, and DVDs - all happened in my lifetime.
You'd think we'd all get better, then, at embracing change. Yet, most seem to oppose it with every fiber of their being. I'm finding that the more rapidly things change around me, the more I seem to resist. Yahoo! changed my mailbox. Internet Explorer changed and I still can't figure out how to do half the things I used to do! What I used to find exciting and challenging is now sometimes overwhelming and tiresome.
God is all about change. God looked into the void, envisioned creation, spoke a Word, and it came to be. God's son shook up the whole religious and political order of His time, and changed the world forever. The Spirit moves among us and through us and changes our hearts and lives, empowering us to be the change that brings about the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
God's presence changes despair into hope. God's love changes enemies into friends. God's economy changes swords into plowshares. God's politics changes sinners into saints. God changes the world one person, one heart, one life at a time.
And we humans, we resist - kicking and screaming, digging our heels into the muck and mire we've made of our lives. We forget or don't care or don't get it. We miss the point - that God is changing us for the better. That each time we put God in charge we change - and it is very, very good. We are the eighth day of God's creative Word at work in the world. God's original blessing continues on each time we submit to be changed.
It's always seemed so strange to me that we will go out and buy the latest gadget and technology and make ourselves learn to use it, no matter how much we have to change our way of living. Yet, the tried and tested, true and reliable means of grace, like prayer and fasting, we cannot learn or master because it's just too hard to change...