Friday, October 5, 2007

"Embrace It!"

Becky’s last post has me excited to learn and use Windows Vista. I’m looking forward to trying it out when I get in to the Barbour offices on Monday. I enjoy learning new programs and systems, especially if they make things more efficient.

Do you like change and learning new things? Or once you have something down do you dread anything that might rock the boat of your routine?

There’s a phrase that Annie Tipton likes to use around the office when we talk about change. “Embrace it!” she says with enthusiasm. It’s a great attitude to have. Life is full of changes, so if you can’t embrace them, you’re likely to be miserable most of the time.

In case you’re wondering, there’s nothing to read between the lines of this post. I don’t have any big change to announce. I’ve just been thinking about it a lot lately. Motherhood is a wonderful and challenging change in my life. And I’ll be attending a memorial service this afternoon for my uncle who passed away on Monday. The death of a loved one is always a hard change. (Thankfully he came to know Jesus recently, so we are rejoicing that he’s in heaven now!)

But all change can be good if we let God use it to make us depend on Him. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

So, whatever change is occurring in your life right now, let God help you “Embrace it!” Then embrace Him as He draws you near.

3 comments:

Mary Connealy said...

JoAnne, Change is hard for me.

You know how they always say we're only using ten percent of our brain? Well, I don't think that's true. I think most of us are going flat out. Using the whole thing, in desperate need of more brains and coming up really short. All you've got to do is look at shows like Fear Factor and know most people don't have one spare neuron left to fire.

For me, I think my brain filled up around...oh, 1987. Since then I don't seem to be able to learn anything new unless I forget something and free up some space.
For example: If I could just forget the Greek Alphabet, foolishly memorized back in college when my roomie almost joined a sorority, I might have space available to learn my daughters new cell phone number.
But no.

I think I may have told you all this before. It sounds vaguely familiar. But of course, if you're like me...and you aren't because you're young...you've probably forgotten what I said so it's ALLLLLLLL Good

Rhonda Gibson said...

JoAnne, I used to hate change but as I'm growing older, I'm finding that I actually look forward to change.

My friend Colleen Coble once told me that changing something in your life/writing will only make it and you stronger. Got to love sound advice like that!

Kristy Dykes said...

Enjoyed your post, JoAnne. IMO, change = growth. We have to keep changing, growing, gleaning, learning throughout life, if we want to succeed.

Mary, you crack me up!!