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Through A Woman's Eyes: Unchanging
Genesis 1:14- And God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years.”
Yesterday, my daughter called to ask me to refresh her memory about a family story. She’s expecting a baby, and her children, Connor, who’s almost eight, and Bailey, five, along with one of Connor’s friends, were trying to help choose a name. The story Jaynee wanted to share with them was about my great-aunt who named herself. She was simply called “baby” until she was old enough to choose her own name.
As I overheard the conversation taking place at Jaynee’s house (Bailey wants to name the baby “Joy-Joy” and Connor’s friend suggested “Coach Bob”) it brought back memories of Jaynee and her brother, Seth, along with their friends, suggesting names when I was pregnant with our youngest child. Everyone had such strong opinions about the names they liked that it probably would have been easier to just leave it up to the baby to decide. After much discussion, however, we finally settled on the name “Ally.” In some ways it seems like just last week that the nurse put little Ally in my arms, and yet that’s not possible because last week we celebrated ”little” Ally’s twentieth birthday and soon I’ll be holding my third grandchild in my arms.
The story of creation tells us that, right off the bat, God organized his world into a pattern of time that includes seasons, days, and years. He’s still working on organizing me to stay in sync with that pattern. I have a tendency to procrastinate. I suppose I get that honestly. After all, I have ancestors who never even got around to naming their own child. I can’t blame it all on my genes, though. Sometimes I put things off simply because I don’t like change. I want things to stay the same. I have to remind myself, often, that this day, the one I’m longing to hang onto, is actually the future I once worried about. In my reluctance to embrace change, I’m encouraged by Ecclesiastes 3:11 which assures me that God “has made everything beautiful in its time.”
Even so, the rest of this verse promises that a part of me will continue to long for something unchanging because God “has set eternity in the heart of man.” He understands that, as we move through the seasons of life, change is often bittersweet and sometimes excruciating. Children grow up, loved ones pass on, and life twists and turns in all sorts of unexpected ways. Yet, in every season, He is there, drawing us toward that which is eternal- His love (Isaiah 54:10), His Son (Hebrews 13:8), His Word (1 Peter 1:25), His mercy (Lamentations 3:22-23), His faithfulness (Psalm 146:6), His glory, majesty, power, and authority (Jude 25).
John 17:3 says, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Because I know Christ, God promises I will live with him eternally in Heaven. I hope I’ll see my great-aunt there. She eventually named herself Annie. I want to congratulate her on choosing such a lovely name when she surely must have had siblings and friends pressuring her to choose a name like “Coach Bob” or Joy-Joy.”
 
 



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