Change....Good or Bad?

We've all heard it, " Why change when what we have is working." Why not be content with it cuz it works." If only we could go back to the good old days.
 My grandmother Stoltzfus was born in 1899. That's a long time ago folks! I don't remember my grandmother, she died when I was 3 years old. I wonder what she would say about all the change in this world in the last 100 years. Think with me.....
 the outhouse....I enjoy my own bathroom just next to my bedroom
pumping water and heating it to get it hot.....mine comes hot or cold from the faucet
an icehouse ....I have a freezer that produces ice for me at any time plus keeps all my meats frozen
once a week bath.....Oh how I love a refreshing shower after a day of hot and sweaty work
 Grandmother sweated over a hot cooking fire to make meals whether the weather was hot or cold, she carried wood to the kitchen and not just to the fireplace where the flames and heat are mostly for the warmth of added comfort in a house that has central heat. Grandma didn't know about microwaves and dishwashers and clothes washers and dryers and electric lights and phones and thermal pane windows and wall to wall carpet. Her house was hot in the summer and hard work to keep warm in the winter. It was back when the neighbors all looked out for each other and men harvested the crops and butchered cows and hogs on cold winter days. Women died in childbirth and pneumonia ended life much to quickly. That and much more took place "in the good old days".
 What if no one would have said we can do more, make more, get creative and be daring. What if the Wright brothers would have given up flying on the first failure because the whole town laughed and said the idea was crazy! Who could have imagined on that day in 1903 at the first flight that one day aircraft would stay in the air for many hours and fly at neckbreaking speeds across 1000s of miles. Grandma could never have imagined doing laundry, washing dishes and sleeping all at the same time. Convenience allows me to sleep while my dishwasher washes dishes and my washer hums away scrubbing the laundry. I'm very grateful that I don't need to do all the things Grandma did. I like these changes!

But that is not all that changed! I'm shocked at the many new changes in just the last decade. Words... yes words. Technology has brought with it a whole new set of vocabulary and my head spins as I try to understand them all. IPhone, ipad, ipod, smart phone. We upload and down load. The floppy disk and hard drive and thumbdrive, all have a place somewhere, but believe me, I don't know where. And I'm still confused as to whether I order stuff off-line or on-line. Facebook and facetime, instagram, vox, Skype, snapchat, blogs, google plus and more keep communication flowing even across the ocean!
 Can you imagine the day when you could eavesdrop on your neighbors conversation on the phone, thanks to the party line. And now teenagers think that there phone is there own personal space! You NEED a phone for sure by the time you have a drivers license! Isn't it truly amazing how it all has changed?

 I married into a family that likes to be connected. We have vox chat groups and email family groups where sisters like to inform us how much canning they got done that day or that daughter baked bread for the first time. Grandma tells us where they are going and that dad mowed lawn for the first time this spring. I show pictures of my sweet grandbaby for the family to ooo and awe over. They face time Matts surprise 40th birthday party so Tony can see it from Africa. Our children can't even imagine taking pictures with a film camera and then having to develop them before you can see them. We took them to a store and dropped the little black thing into an envelope and you filled out the correct spaces. Glossy or matte? 12, 24, or 36 exposure?. And then you went back 5 days later to pick up the pictures. And what a bummer when half the pictures didn't "turn out" very good! Now we use Mpix or picmonkey or snapfish or mixbook or.....? All from the convenience of our home!

Malachi 3:6  For I am the Lord, I change not. We live in a changing world but God has not changed even a little bit. The promises He made 2000 years ago are as valid now as they were then. We can Trust Him ALWAYS ! That's ALWAYS! Who else can you trust ALWAYS? He will never ever change and that gives me security like nothing else can!

 I'm glad some things changed in the past 100 years, I really do like some of the conveniences. Other changes I think are not necessary, some are stupid and then there are some that are a bit scary. Obviously Change will happen, whether I like it or not. Change is inevitable and to resist change is not always wise.
  One reason people resist change is because they focus on what they have to give up instead of what they have to gain.
 I need constant wisdom from God to know how to accept and embrace change. Many, many things have changed in my life in the past year. Most of them and maybe all of them I don't like! I don't see any gain but I keenly feel the loss! I'm still struggling in that area. The days of widowhood have progressed from days to weeks to months and almost a year. The sadness of remembering the pain and stress of  a year ago have a way of sweeping over me. The pain comes back with force that takes my breath and sends streams of tears down my cheeks. Remembering is not very pleasant, but burying the feeling is harmful to the soul and so we cry the tears that need to be cried and then we hold on to God and His Amazing Grace and we Know that we can accept this change and go on with life.

If nothing ever changed there'd be no butterflies.