The other day we took our kids to the local park and let two helium balloons, which the kids had given me for mothers' day, drift into the sky. The pale blue balloon soon disappeared behind the trees, but the yellow one twisted and turned on the high winds, growing smaller and smaller until it became a shining dot in the late afternoon sun, winked, and vanished.As I watched the balloons disappear, I felt like they were carrying a season of life away with them. I've been checking out high schools for my 11 year old daughter, the same daughter I remember sitting with for hours as a 2-year-old, reading picture book after picture book. Every time I look at my 3-year-old, I'm reminded that in a couple of years he will go to school, and I'll be alone during the day - something I long for and dread in equal measure - and that a year or so after that, there will be no more small children at our house.
This is a time of change for me. I'm uncertain about the future. I don't know what shape life will take in a year, or 3 years, or 5. You don't realise how dependent you are on a carefully sculpted future until it's no longer certain.
My sister in Christ reminded me the other day that God doesn't change. The God I pray to is exactly the same God as the one who spoke the world into being - who spoke to Moses out of the burning bush - who watched his Son die on a cross. She talked about how, sometimes when she's praying, she thinks of this and can't wrap her mind around it.
Like a balloon unattached, I'm floating, drifting. Unsettled, afraid. But I remind myself that my certainty doesn't rest in the things around me. My certainty is anchored in Christ, seated at the right hand of the Father, unchanging, praying for me before the throne (Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25).
Whatever else gives way, he is certain.
image is from incurable_hippie at flickr
1 comment:
This is such an encouraging thought for me to take hold of today. This year is a year of big changes for me. My eldest son gets married soon, my youngest has just finished school (where did those years go, I wonder, just like your balloon floating far away). My parents, who I've been hoping to care for more as they are getting older, are moving to a suburb further away today - where I won't be able to be as involved day-to-day as I had thought.
So I have been thinking a lot about changes lately, and how to not only cope with them as a Christian, but actually grow and thrive in the midst of change. Thinking about how God never changes is awesome. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.
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