Constancy

I have been sitting in my pondering spot thinking about examples of things that were once I-N, in, but are now definitely O-U-T, out. My list includes the following items:

• Singing to my daughter. Maddie used to love for me to sing to her to help her sleep or to comfort her or for her to have someone to harmonize with. Now I get "the look" from her if I commence to crooning. This might even be accompanied by an elbow in the ribs if I even think about singing in public.
  
• Gorging on junk food. I used to love sitting in front of the T.V. for the big game or my favorite show and polishing off a big of my favorite snack food. Now the fats and greases immediately add to my girth and my tummy feels sickish if I have more than a couple of handfuls of yummies.
  
• Working 100 hour weeks. For years on end I gave my life for my work and career. Although my schedule was full, my life was empty. No more.
  
• No sleep. I used to get up at the crack of dawn and still be churning along all the way through the end of Letterman. Not the new Dave, but the old "Late Night" version.
  
• Hanging out at the bar. During graduate school my friends and I loved going out for a few beers and requisite dart playing. Lots of rowdy times. My head, my stomach, and my innards can no longer handle any of this sort of activity and it holds no power over me.
  
• Hair. I used to have thick luxurious hair. It grew so quickly that I had to go to the barber once a month. Now that pesky problem has been done away with.
  
• Health. I used to be in good health and could count on my body to come through when I needed it. Now it seems like I have one wacky, random condition after another. If I had known I was going to live this long, ...
  
• I am fine by myself. I used to live with the attitude that I didn't need help from anyone. I wanted to be alone as everyone just seemed to be working against me. Now I am so sick of alone that I want to scream.
  

The point is that we change. Folks around us change. Things that we thought were great today are nuisances or forgotten about tomorrow. Seen from the outside, we can all be viewed as kind of flaky. I think it is a wonderful comfort to remember what scripture tells us:

I the Lord do not change. Malachi 3:6.

We know what our path is supposed to be and we know that path won't ever change. Our God was the same yesterday, is the same today, and will be the same tomorrow. Now that is welcome news.