October 29,2015
The calendar reads October, but this is the dishtowel that hangs from my stove handle.
But you know what? When the mercury rose to nearly one hundred and the month was marked July, the scene was the same.
(For the record, it does get washed. It’s just my go-to favorite.)
It’s not that I don’t have others. I actually have a drawer full of other towels that actually match my kitchen paint colors and aren’t seasonally inappropriate.
It’s not that I’m fanatical about reindeer or Christmas decorations. Come to think of it, I actually don’t even like the design. Kinda tacky.
It’s just that it works. So well. I’m comfortable with it. Do you know what I mean? It’s been worn to just the right thickness. Not too bulky, not yet full of holes. Just right.
So why change it?
Dishtowels? They’re one thing. Other parts of life? They’re another.
Change happens. I could compose a long list of changes our family has faced recently. Plenty of positive ones. Equally as many stressful ones.
Sure, we’ve put our hands up in celebration over some of them and our feet down in protest of others. Whether it’s a cause for rejoicing or a reason for weeping, change moves us. It helps us leave the past in the past.
One of my favorite Scriptures comes from Isaiah 43, verses 18 and 19.
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!”
If we’re too busy clinging to the old ways, how will we make room for the new things God is preparing for us?
When we’re stuck in the past, sometimes we’re just that: stuck.
Stuck in a rut. In a comfort zone where we become stagnant and don’t flourish.
Change can be uncomfortable. Downright unnerving at times. But it grows us and stretches us. Change makes way for the new.
New people. New opportunities. New ministries.
It calls us to look for our security in an unchanging God.
So while I’m learning to embrace some changes, you’ll still find me holding the same towel, allowing a reindeer to dry my pots and pans.