For one who doesn’t like it, I have had a lot of it in my life. I used to literally hate it. What is this thing I disdained so? Change. In all it’s varying forms I resisted change as much as I could.

As a young bride when Tom came home to tell me he had been given a promotion I was elated! That is until he said we would be relocating to a large city in FL, “Where”, I had often said, “I would never live!”

Ten long months we called Miami home, and although I learned to adjust I was never happy. Ten months makes me roll my eyes now at how immature I was. To my 20 year old self 10 months felt like an eternity.

Tom’s next promotion moved us back to Orlando where we bought our first home and started our family. I was born in O-town and live here still; for this I am grateful. I love Orlando, even with all the changes the Mouse has given us, it is still The City Beautiful!

Changes continued by challenging different loves in my life. Our three adult children, one by one moved to different states. I am grateful Tom and I have the freedom to visit them often. But with the pandemic we haven’t seen each other much at all. This makes me unhappy.

Why do I bring this up the first week of 2021?

It is because we have all been forced to embrace change. It is a hard road, but necessary road. Imagine if an unborn baby said it didn’t want the change childbirth would bring? What if they refused to come out, content with life as they knew it in the womb? They’d have no idea what good they were missing, not to mention they wouldn’t survive.

My word for 2020 was contentment, and I didn’t do very well with it.

However, I’m glad God had me focus on it. It helped me be intentional on the important things in life. No pandemic can’t touch the promises we’ve been given in Christ. My eternal future is secure making these temporary difficulties bearable.

If I take my view of change as a new bride and compare it with my view of change today, I am encouraged. I have grown these past 42 years, and it is all because of Christ. He was faithful then, and He’ll be faithful now.

The older I get the more I see change is good. It is everywhere in creation. God calls all things to grow up in Him, and I’m included in this command. I can either embrace the change in faith, or resist it in anger. I’ve tried the latter and believe me it is a very dark place.

My word for 2021 is Behold. Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines it: To fix the eyes upon; to see with attention; to observe with care.

I plan to focus daily on beholding God and His goodness in creation. I am filled with anticipation of all He plans to show me this year. If you’d like to follow my journey in beholding, you can see it on our Instagram feed “TheRomanticVineyard” using hashtag #Beholding2021.

In what ways has your marriage experienced change? Have you allowed God to give you His perspective? Have you seen growth as a result? Maybe it’s time to behold the good you’ve been given and give Him thanks!