change

I know this isn't my first post called change.  I think about change a lot.  How does one do it?  Sometimes this is an individual issue, isolating one person or small group of people who need to change or who even want to change.  But how does one motivate change in someone else?  How do you encourage people to make changes that will take great effort but will be SO worth it in the end?  How do you take hundreds of thousands of individuals and have them all change at a slow enough rate that it truly is change and not just some fad that will swing back, and begin to change society?  How can we make structural changes so that people who have none will have enough?  

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday.  'The beginning of the Lenten season is upon us,' as my dear brother Hayden used to say to me.  This is a time to look deep into our hearts and begin to understand with greater perspective the depth of our depravity before God--the depth of our sin.  It is a season of mourning the flesh, of denying it in order to see past it into eternity.  It is a time to get our perspective of God right.  To understand that He is great and we are small.  And yet, He calls us into greater intimacy with Himself during this time as well.  He sent His son to dwell among us.  We have the privilege of drawing near to the throne of Grace to partake in the wonderful sacrifice of Jesus.  

Change has been happening all around me.  Some is for the better. . . some has been REALLY difficult to process and understand.  But I'm seeing people healed and lives being restored.  I'm rejoicing with those whose hearts are undergoing great new understandings of grace, peace, and joy.  I want to share every story, but I don't have time.  Know there is cause for celebration, for God is great and He is SO good to His children!