Today I listened to one of my favourite devotional audios on the topic of change. It brings up lots of examples of how God has changed the rules throughout history. The most notable one being, of course, the coming of Jesus ushering in the era of grace and forgiveness when previously God had required adherence to a rigid set of laws and animal sacrifices for the atonement of sins.
Afterwards, as I thought about this, I realized that when I’m faced with a change in what I’m doing or the way I’ve been operating my first reaction is to think, “Oh no, if I have to change the way I’m doing things now doesn’t that mean that I got it all wrong and wasted a lot of time before?”
Not necessarily. It’s a relief to me to realize that as times change so do our jobs, our methods of operation, and God’s will for our lives. But just because something that was right before needs to be changed or updated it doesn’t negate the value of all the work we put into doing it that way previously. If nothing else, it was a good learning experience.
A project that I worked on for more than a month taught me how to use a new computer program – even though the entire thing ended up getting redone in a different format. A move to another country brought me a new set of friends and pushed me to learn new skills – even though it after a year and a half I realized it wasn’t the right place for me, and moved back here.
I may not be totally certain about what the next few years will bring about. I might decide to try very different things from what I’m currently doing. And they may not work out at all. But I don’t need to be afraid of that, because each new experience takes me another step forward in life, and each old one has taught me something valuable and contributed toward the place I’m at today.
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