Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Change

Change. How I hate it. I'm not talking about a pocket full of coins, although I hate that too! No, I am talking about transitions, for the lack of a better term. I look in the mirror each day and I wonder who the H$#% that is looking back at me? A graphic illustration of change. Where is that handsome 180 pound guy, with jet black hair and sensuous blue eyes? It seems as if he were here but last week but now he seems to have vanished..only to be replaced by some grey-haired, wrinkled, chubby visage that I hardly recognize. And how is it that my oldest child is 40 and my baby turns 20 in a few weeks? For not only is change apparent, it is subtle as well. While it is occurring, we are oblivious to it.

Greek philosophers were the first to study it. I think it was Parmenides who observed that even though the river is one, you can never put your foot in the same place twice. The Greeks observed that it is man's desire to be one, whole and unchangeable, but the unity and unchangeable nature of the soul conflicts with the multiplicity and decaying nature of the body. Of course, the Greeks didn't know about the Garden of Eden...about man before the fall. Some Scripture scholars tell us that before original sin, there was no change...no chronological time and therefore, no death. So, there's the rub. Death. That is what we instinctively hate. Just as death was unnatural to the sinless man at the beginning, there is a residual loathing and fear of it in every human since Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden.

Fortunately, in Christian belief, there will be an end to change and, therefore, death. At the coming of Christ at the end of time, all of the cosmos will be renewed and restored. Not just planet earth. This is God's gift to fallen man and a fallen world. For as James reminds us: Every good and perfect gift is from above, from the Father of Light, in whom there is no change or shadow of a turning. (James 1:17) Perhaps on that day I'll again see that handsome, 180 pound guy with jet black hair and those sensuous blue eyes. Maranatha!

4 comments:

Amy Jo said...

What an inspriational post Mr. D! On Friday it will be a year ago that I lost my Grandmother to whom I was particularly close. How marvelous that we have the knowledge that death is not the end! God is so gracious as to give us hope that "change will end" and we can cling to that hope while we are here on earth. I truly enjoyed the post! Thank you :)

Dad 2 eight said...

Strawberry:

Thanks for the note. How blessed we are to have the great Hope in Christ that when He returns, so does Eden. Revelations says that He will make all things new...not all new things. This means that all of our relationships enjoyed on earth will, in Christ, be renewed...in the Holy Spirit charged environment of Heaven coming down to earth. How thrilling!!. Thanks again for your note.

Laura said...

I would bet that those who know you still see him (even if you don't).

Dad 2 eight said...

Laura:

Thanks for that!