Change in All Around, I See

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I don’t like change.  Well—sometimes, I do.  And then—I wish things hadn’t changed after they do.

I’m not explaining this very clearly, am I?

Let’s see if I can do better.

I like trees—especially old ones. Old trees exude comfort and reassurance that all is well with the world.  They are a constant—a connection from former generations to the future.

They’ve seen it all, lasting through the storms and the seasons, standing firm.

It makes me sad when old trees are cut down.  Except when it doesn’t.

Oh.  Here I go again—talking in circles.

Give me another chance, will you?

The old mulberry tree stood outside the kitchen window.  For well more than sixty years, it gave shade from the sun blasting down in summer.  There were berries in the spring.  Berries that fed the birds by the thousands and provided the residents of the old house with flavorful complements to their cereal and, perhaps, even filling a pie or two.

The tree has been a constant throughout the life of the Lovely Lady who lives in the old house with me.  She was brought to this home from the maternity ward in the hospital and doesn’t remember a day when it wasn’t there.

Even I, as a relative newcomer (not yet fifty years) to the family, have walked under it on many spring days, pulling down a handful of the purple fruit to munch on, tossing the stems to the ground under the lovely old tree.  I have stood under its shade on many a sweltering summer afternoon, grateful for the protection from the sun.

The twisted, gnarled old tree always brings a smile to my face when I think of it.  I loved it and thought I would never want it gone.

I don’t like change.

But, it has been evident over the last three years that the funny little tree was reaching the end of its life.  The branches at the top began to lose their leaves, drooping lifelessly toward the ground below.  And this year, there were almost no leaves to be seen anywhere on the tree, except the few that popped from the trunk itself.  Not a single branch bore any sign of green.

I hate to cut down trees.  Especially old friends such as this lovely little mulberry.  And, it could have stayed right where it was, limbs drooping to the ground, for several more years.  Except for one thing; those drooping limbs (and a large part of the upper trunk) hung right over the power line dropping down to the house.

Winter is coming.  It is.  We live in a relatively temperate area, but in most winters we get at least one or two storms coming through that drop what the meteorologists like to call freezing rain.  Simply put, water falls from the sky into the extremely cold air near the ground and freezes solid on every surface upon which it lands.

Water is heavy.  Freezing water coating the limbs is a disaster waiting to happen.

I wanted the problem taken care of before winter comes.  My heater won’t work if the electricity is interrupted, and I need heat in the winter.  Most folks do.

My old friend, Isaac, came by last week to remove the old oak tree across the street (a story for another day) and I asked him if he could extend his stay in the neighborhood long enough to take care of my problem.

He wondered if I could wait for a few weeks.  I couldn’t.  Even the few days I had to wait for him to finish the other job was a few days too many.  The tree needed to come down ASAP!

You see?  Sometimes, I do like change.

Yesterday, Isaac took the tree down.  Limb by limb, section by section, it came to the ground.  I was happy to see the limbs on the grass.  Especially that section that hung over the power line.

Soon, all that remained was the twisted and gnarled old trunk.  My friend knows what he is doing.  He left enough weight above the trunk on the side to which he wanted it to fall.

He didn’t even have to cut a notch near the ground like you see most of the lumberjacks doing in the movies.  Just a straight cut right above the level of the dirt.  A push, and it was done.

The mulberry tree lay on the ground waiting to be cut into smaller pieces the tractor would lift into the trailer.

I wish it hadn’t.

You see, I don’t like change.

Most of us don’t.  We hold on to the things that make us comfortable.  Even when it’s clear that they are rotting and decaying, we hold on to them.  And then, when they are finally wrenched from our grasping, clinging hands, we bemoan their loss.

As if those things could ever last forever.

Years ago, I played the old portable pump organ (and sometimes a real piano) for my Dad at the nursing homes where he preached on Sunday afternoons.  He would let the old folks pick the songs they wanted us to sing.  One we sang again and again was “Abide With Me”.  It was far from my favorite then.

I like it now.  I think it’s because I understand it better.

“Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away.
Change and decay in all around I see.
O thou who changest not, abide with me.”
(from Abide With Me, by Henry Francis Lyte)

Come to think of it, part of the change we’ve lived through is the moving away from common use of the old hymns.  It’s part of the natural ebb and flow of life, but we don’t like that change, either.

All things move on.  They always have.

My young friend, who writes songs for followers of Christ today, wrote a line in one of his songs a few years ago.  It’s as powerful as the last line in the old hymn above.

“You cannot change, yet you change everything.”
(from Rest in You, by Leonard/Jordan/Fox)

It’s true—there is decay in everything around us.  Science tells us that everything is decaying.  And yet, there is new life.  And growth.

And, these places of discomfort we move into become places of comfort.  Places we’ll eventually move on from again.  And again.

Change and decay in all around I see.

But God—He never changes.

A Rock.  A Fortress.  The place we run into and find rest.  Before change comes—again.

More trees will grow.  And fall.

We have a certain anchor in every storm.

In a world of change and decay, a Solid Rock.

I still miss the old tree.

 

“Change is the law of life.  And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”
(John F Kennedy)

Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth
    and made the heavens with your hands.
They will perish, but you remain forever;
    they will wear out like old clothing.
You will change them like a garment
    and discard them.
But you are always the same;
    you will live forever.”
(Psalm 102: 25-27, NLT)

© Paul Phillips. He’s Taken Leave. 2024. All Rights Reserved.

 

New Patches

It’s not something I see every day.  Perhaps, if I had lived a century ago it wouldn’t have seemed so unusual.

The Lovely Lady and I were headed to visit one of our favorite shops in a neighboring town when we saw the long, black slabs of treated wood lying along the railroad tracks.  It’s odd, but most of us don’t give a second thought to trains and the metal rails they travel on these days.

As we drove along the road running parallel to the tracks, we began to see yellow vehicles ahead of us.  For a moment, it appeared to be a group of school buses, but, drawing nearer, we realized the machinery was riding on the rails. 

There were four or five long pieces of equipment, each one with the same large steel wheels running along the tracks in much the same manner as a train.  These vehicles had a different purpose than carrying freight, though.

The huge creosote cross ties—the ones we had seen for several miles before—were lying under the boom arm of one of the machines.  Another one, running ahead of the boom-armed contraption, had a pneumatic device that hammered out the old, worn-out ties.  Then the new tie was maneuvered under the rails by the boom arm.  After it was set into place, another machine hammered home the spikes that held the rail to the tie underneath it.

railroadcrewThat’s not the way it used to be done.  It used to take an army of men, with crowbars, saws, and sledgehammers to do the job of these three or four machines.  Everyone had an assignment and it took all that manpower to do the job, too.

Backbreaking labor was what it was.  The rails weighed tons, the ties somewhat less.  Still, they were heavy and hard to manage.  There were always lots of dusty, scuffed pairs of boots on the ground when the railroad was undergoing maintenance.

On that recent day, as I marveled at the technology, I realized that I was seeing not one set of boots on the ground.  Each machine was operated by a single person who, undoubtedly, simply babysat the process.  The functions themselves are programmed, measured, and completed by computers and motor-driven mechanisms.

The thought hit me.  The relatively ancient technology of the railroad is being repaired and maintained by cutting edge technology.

What a dichotomy!  The old rails are relatively unchanged since the nineteenth century.  The huge steel bars are still attached to the cross-ties underneath them to maintain the correct spacing for the wheels of the heavy cars in much the same way as they have always been.

The first trans-continental railroad was completed just a few years after the first commissioner of the United States Patent Office suggested (somewhat tongue-in-cheek) that we might be coming to the end of the need for new patents.  It was the mid-nineteenth century.

The technology in use is over one hundred and fifty years old!  Yet, the technology which maintains that ancient system utilizes the newest advances in human knowledge and ability.

I laughed as I considered the foolishness.

Incrementalism.

We hate change—real change, that is.  We are happy to accept changes in the way we prop up our old ways, but refuse to tolerate even the slightest suggestion of a complete reversal in direction.

The Teacher addressed our problem with incrementalism in His time on earth.

I suggested recently that He came as a disruptor.  

He came, not to change the way the game was played, but to change the game itself.

He came, not to change the way the game was played, but to change the game itself. Share on X

Somehow, I think many of us would view Him in the same way as the religious folk of that day, should He come and walk among us again in our generation.  We would be just as angry at this rebel as they were.  

We might even demand His death.  Again.

You don’t sew patches of new cloth into an old coat and expect to continue wearing the old coat for many more years. (Matthew 9:15-17)

I count myself in the company of Pharisees.  Honesty leaves me no choice but to admit it.  There is certainly ample proof.

Even tonight, as that scripture was brought to mind, I considered it in the same light in which I have considered it for all of my nearly sixty years.

You don’t sew new patches into old cloth, you close up the holes with old cloth.

That is how my mind thinks.  I believe, truth be told, it is how we as humans generally think.  The problem is, it’s not what He meant at all.

It’s not what He meant.  

The epiphany is staggering for me.  Absolutely staggering.

rags-245431_640What am I doing wearing old clothes when the King has made me His son?  Why in the world would I even consider what to patch the fabric with?

Old clothes?  I’ve got the newest and best threads that are to be found—anywhere!

He makes us new!  

How in the world would He leave us doing the same old trash we did before?

How is the same filth going to come from our mouths still?

How could our relationships continue on as they were?

Change is never easy.  It isn’t comfortable.

He never said it would be.

He did promise to be with us every step of the way.  (Matthew 28:20)

Everything changes.  

New technology doesn’t need to be developed to prop up old norms.  We don’t need to come up with new ways to breathe life into old worn-out methods.

He does the breathing of new life.  He always has.

Cutting edge.  (Hebrews 4:12)  

It’s all there is.

Word.

His.

 

 

Did I ever tell you the story of the man who cut off his little dog’s tail a little bit at a time?  He didn’t want it to hurt so much.
(W Paul Whitmore ~ American storyteller/sage ~ 1921-2006)

 

The advancement of the arts, from year to year, taxes our credulity and seems to presage the arrival of that period when human improvement must end.
(Henry Ellsworth ~ 1st Commissioner/U.S. Patent Office ~ 1791-1858)

 

 

 

© Paul Phillips. He’s Taken Leave. 2016. All Rights Reserved.

People Change

The tears flow more easily these days.  I can’t explain it.  It’s not as if there’s any good reason—a daughter’s wedding for instance, or a totaled vintage sports car.

I apologized for embarrassing the Lovely Lady at the concert the other night.  She just smiled and suggested that it doesn’t bother her at all.  I’m going to take her at her word.

The concert?  Oh, it was just a performance of the choir from the local university—an encore of their annual spring break tour material for the folks in our little town.  

I used to detest choral music.  I thought I was supposed to hate it.  I grew up in the sixties and seventies, an era of rock and roll, and disco, with a little Take Me Home, Country Roads mixed in.  

We didn’t listen to choral music.

choir-408422_640But, people change.

The other night, I sat and listened to the young voices raised in harmony and let the tears roll down my cheeks without bothering to wipe them dry.  

What beauty!  What astounding beauty!

I was especially overwhelmed by one particular song—no, not the song—the singers.  Two young ladies sang a duet, really solos which blended with each other seamlessly.  The piece was written for two sopranos, and was quite high.  The young ladies were up to the task and the result was spectacular—a performance to listen to again and again.  

But—and this is odd—I remember reading that one of the sopranos had been an alto singer when she entered the university’s vocal program.  A low alto.  And here she was singing a gorgeous duet way up in the high range of the female voice.  

What happened?

People change.

I sat at the dinner table with a few folks the other day.  The portions of dessert which were served had been generous.  The Lovely Lady noticed one of our guests was struggling to finish his too-large serving and mentioned that she wouldn’t be insulted if he couldn’t finish.

“We don’t require people at our table to clean their plates,” I added lightly.

My adult son jerked his face toward me in surprise.  

“That’s not how I remember it used to be,” he said in a voice filled with mock-hurt.

I immediately saw scenes of battles-of-the-wills—little boy refusing his mashed potatoes—Dad insisting he eat at least a no-thank-you helping of the vile things—and I cringed inwardly.  He was only half-serious now, and yet the images are inked indelibly on my brain.  His too, I suppose.

Hanging my head a little, I replied.  “I hope I’m always growing and doing things better than I used to.”

He laughed.  “I’m not horribly scarred from the experience, you know.”

We laughed together.  Still, the truth remains—at least I hope it does.

People change.

It is not always the case.  An old friend and I stood today, talking about an acquaintance who passed away recently.  My friend remembered the fellow as a teenager—headstrong, angry, and resistant to improvement.

As we talked, suddenly both of us fell quiet, thinking about the same thing.

“It’s funny,” my friend said.  “He was just like that until the day he died.”

It’s not really that funny.  Some people don’t change.  

I think that’s just plain sad.

Lest you think I’m talking about us pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps, and earning our own salvation, let me assure you, I’m not.  That’s not the point at all.  

Our redemption and adoption into the Family of God are guaranteed by one thing and one thing only—the grace of a loving God who Himself became the sacrifice necessary to satisfy the requirement of holiness and justice.  

We are saved by grace, through faith in Jesus.  Period.  (Ephesians 2:8)

We don’t stay there without moving, though.  Our journey through life continues on.  We are presented with choices at every twist and turn.

We grow.  We walk and we learn.  We become, it is to be hoped, more like our Savior as we journey on.  Prompted by the Spirit, we leave our old rags behind, and are dressed in His clothes.

People change.

The girl who thought she was limited to the low range of the female voice submitted herself to her mentor’s instruction and now sings with a range most of us can’t imagine.  It’s a good thing,  a very good thing.

The old man who once demanded perfection of his children and would not open up his ears to different melodies and harmonies than those with which he was comfortable is finally learning a more gentle manner and a wider repertoire.

More changes will come.  At least, it is to be hoped more changes are in the future.

What a shame for a man to die in his obstinance.  How does the gentleness of our Savior not compel us to become gentle?  How does His love not move us to be loving?

People change.  And, they should.

Perhaps, even that sentence should be modified.  It won’t take much to change its meaning.  Two punctuation marks. 

People, change!

 

Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.
(Fyodor Dostoyevsky ~ Russian novelist ~ 1821-1881)

 

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
(2 Corinthians 3:18 ~ NIV)

 

 

 

© Paul Phillips. He’s Taken Leave. 2016. All Rights Reserved.