You Haven't Changed a Bit!

Has anybody ever said that to you?  I have had several occasions in recent months to see friends I haven't seen for quite some time, many years in some cases.  And nearly all of them said the same thing......."you haven't changed a bit!"

That made me laugh........mainly because I own a mirror, and I know it isn't true! I have pictures to prove it!  Maybe I should share some of those pictures.  On second thought, maybe not!  I have been fat, and I have been thin, and I have been everything in between.  I have had long hair, and I have had short hair, and every length in between.  And I have had a variety of shades of hair color.  I was even a redhead for a time.  Not a pretty picture!  I once was painfully shy, and now.....not so much!  I was young, and now I am not.

So, to say I haven't changed a bit is not entirely accurate.  Well, I'm still short.  That much hasn't changed!  So when I hear people say I haven't changed a bit, I just have to giggle.

But......there's a level at which I hear "you haven't changed a bit!" and I cringe.  I hope that isn't true!  Not to have changed at all in 5 or 10 or 20 years????  How horrible!

To go for long periods of time and not change at all is to remain stagnant.  Picture a stagnant puddle of water or a stagnant pond.  Yuck!  Not a very appealing picture, is it?

Now to be clear, I'm pretty sure that when people have seen me for the first time in many years and they have said I haven't changed, they have been referring to physical appearance or perhaps to personality.  I do, after all, still laugh and smile a lot.  A lot!  I do still want to bring joy and happiness to those around me.  But.......

Think with me for just a minute on a deeper, spiritual level.  To never change.  To never mature in my thinking.  To never go deeper in my faith.  How sad that would be.

So, if people look beyond the crinkles around my eyes, or if they fail to notice the extra pounds, that's a good thing and I'm pretty happy about that.  Those changes, after all, are only on the surface.

But, oh how I hope I have changed on the inside.  How I hope I'm constantly changing.  That day by day, I'm maturing in my faith.  That day by day, I am becoming all that God desires me to be.  That day by day, I'm becoming more like Jesus!

"But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."  (2 Peter 3:18 HCSB)