There are numerous paths and trails that weave their way through the trees that cover our island. Sometimes they lead to an historic destination like a cemetery, sometimes to a shed in the woods, and sometimes they just lead to the edge of the marsh. Some can be traversed with golf carts, some with ATV’s, and some with cars or trucks. (And almost always they are going across private property, so get permission before you venture off the roads.)
I’ve lived over here for more than 20 years, and in the earlier years, I rode down many of those paths as I sought to get to know this place I call home. However, I haven’t made a habit of driving through the woods in quite some time, and ten years ago when Hurricane Matthew paid our island a visit, countless trees fell in places where there was no pressing need to remove them. Some of those paths became blocked simply by falling trees. Yet there were other places where paths are now blocked because trees kept growing. Today, once passable paths are blocked by limbs that have grown across the way, narrowing the routes so that even small vehicles cannot get through.
If I lived under the assumption that everything that I knew 20 years ago still held true today, I just might find myself extremely frustrated if I tried to do something that I was able to do back then. And even if I then accepted the fact that things deteriorate or die, changing conditions as normal things happen like my body aging or trees falling across a path, I might still find myself frustrated to learn that my assumptions were no longer accurate. You see, healthy things tend to grow, and as they grow, the environment around them changes – not because of something negative, but because of something positive. Of course, that growth brings about a change in conditions from what I would have known 20 years ago, requiring me to get an updated understanding of reality.
We should never stop growing as individuals. There is so much to learn about ourselves, our community, our world. For followers of Christ, each day represents an opportunity to grow more like Jesus, which simultaneously means being less like we once were. The paths in our lives that were once so easily navigated may well become impassible, and that is a good thing if our growth as humans has blocked a path that no longer needs traversing. And as we deal with others who we may not have spent much time with recently, we should be mindful that they may have been growing too, changing the paths that we once knew within them.
When our expectations are based on an assumption that things in this world shouldn’t change, we set ourselves up for frustration and disappointment. Change is inevitable, so give yourselves and others a bit of grace when you find that things are no longer as they once were. The path you expected to take may no longer be viable, but a new path may lead you to some unanticipated pleasure.
Peace and blessings – Pastor Aaron