Some Thoughts on Change

A lot has changed in my lifetime.  A lot.  And much of it has been a good thing.  As an example, when my mother and I would go to Spartanburg to shop for school clothes back in the 1950s (because that was why you shopped then......shopping wasn't a recreational sport like it is now!!), there were two sets of restrooms and two water fountains, one for white people and one for non-white ("colored", as they were known back then).  If you have seen "The Help", or if you lived through that era, then you know what I mean.  It isn't that way any more.  And that's a good thing.

I remember when we didn't have a television.  Gasp!!!!  And not because we were among those who chose not to have television in their home, as many families are doing today.  It was because television was a new thing and not everybody had one.  My parents didn't have color television until the 70s.  And we had one telephone.  One of those upright ones that you sometimes see in antique stores or old movies.  It was several decades before there was more than one phone in that household.

I remember life without computers and cell phones and I-pads and all these technologies we can't seem to live without now.  Life was a lot simpler then.  And while it is wonderful to be able to access all this information on the web, and communicate any time of day or night with anyone nearly anywhere, I'm not sure that having our lives so controlled by all this technology is entirely a good thing.

There has been change in nearly every area of life.  Music has changed.  The way we "do church" has changed.  Fashion has changed.  Schools have changed.  Some of the changes have been good, but I would submit to you that not all change is good.  Sometimes it's just different. 

Change is certainly a buzzword in the political arena.  Our current President campaigned on a platform promising change.  And while it is not my intent to stir up a political hornet's nest, I would just ask...."how's that workin' for ya?"

Today when I logged onto Facebook, I discovered some major change.  And frankly, I don't like it.  Change simply for the sake of change is a concept I do not embrace.  Call me old-fashioned.  I gladly accept that.  I freely admit that I am not a technie.  I don't get a thrill just knowing that some techno-geek somewhere had a new idea, so now the rest of us poor ignorant masses must just accept it and move on.  I am at least mildly offended at the condescension being dished out by the techies this morning toward those of us who don't embrace these changes with the same level of enthusiasm that they do.  I respect their opinions and their right to hold them.  I wish they would offer the same level of respect to those of us who disagree.

And I want my old Facebook back!  That won't happen, I'm sure.  But I intend to be at least mildly grumpy about it for the rest of the day.

Change just for the sake of change makes no sense to me.  Again, call me old-fashioned.  I don't mind!  But I belong to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" school.

Change is inevitable in life.  I am not so naive as to deny that truth.  I have lived long enough to know it to be so.  But I don't have to always like it, do I?! 

Through it all, I'm thankful that not everything changes.  And as life continues to change, and not always for the better, it's the truth I'm holding on to........"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."  (Hebrews 13:8  HCSB)