Everything and Nothing Has Changed
It's the last day of the year! And some of my favourite words in this little "Year-End Prayer" I wrote are these in the bridge section:
Everything and nothing has changed
Battles and blessings abound
Down upon my knees I proclaim
This lost and lonely sheep has been found
That line always makes me pause: "everything and nothing has changed". It's inspired by the saying "the more things change, the more they stay the same." For many of us, lots of change did come this year - some have lost a loved one and now life looks completely different. Or perhaps you're in a new relationship that has turned your life around for good! Some lost a job, others maybe got a new and better job. Some moved homes, some had health challenges that have changed things. Perhaps you look back and think - everything has changed, life is not like it once was!
The Constant Midst the Change
But you see, on the other hand, even though circumstances change, we often find that nothing really changes within us. We're still struggling along fighting the same battles, we're still living life with the blessings we did before. Sometimes we can't believe how much things haven't changed, as we've settled into our ways and got into our routines that just continue on day by week by month by year.
The good news, of course, is that God doesn't change. Scripture says that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and for ever" (Hebrews 13:8). One of the great hymns that we still often sing in my church says "Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not. As Thou hast been Thou for ever wilt be."
Things change, things stay the same... and God does new things, while still remaining the same in His character. Amazing.
The Greatest Truth
So what battles and blessings are you remembering from this year, as it ends? The last two lines of this bridge say "Down upon my knees I proclaim this lost and lonely sheep has been found". For me, the battles and the blessings of the year are secondary to the wonderful fact that I have met and have been saved and changed by Jesus. This matters more than all the rest!
So as the year ends, I encourage you: whatever has changed, whatever has stayed the same; whatever battles you faced, whatever blessings you enjoyed - be most glad not in any of that, but in the saving love of the Great Shepherd, who saved a sheep like you.
If that is true for you, then this year ends in a good way.
Circumstances shift constantly while God remains unchanging, but the greatest truth is that this lost and lonely sheep has been found.