Embracing Change
Lucianne Warren, WMUV President
First, I would like to thank you for trusting me with the leadership of the Board of Trustees. It is an honor to serve alongside such a dedicated group of women and staff as we lead in inspiring and equipping women to influence the world for Christ. I pray that God grants us wisdom as He leads and blesses us as we serve Him together.
As 2020 ends and I look forward to 2021, I wonder what surprises this new year will bring. For some there will be few changes and for others the anticipation of life post COVID-19 gives you hope for many changes. The Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, pointed out in 500 BC that everything is constantly shifting and becoming something other than what it was before. Like a river, life flows ever onwards, and while we may step from the riverbank into the river, the waters flowing over our feet will never be the same waters that flowed even one moment before. Heraclitus concluded that, since the very nature of life is change, to resist this natural flow was to resist the very essence of our existence. “There is nothing permanent except change.”
When I was working as a therapist, on my office wall hung a sign which read, “The universe is changing and it’s right on schedule.” I often received many questions and comments as to its meaning. It was often a starting point for the reasons for their life problems. The root of many of our problems centers around changes in our lives which are difficult for us to accept. We resist change, and the fear of the unknown can result in clinging to status quo behaviors—no matter how bad they are. In my experience, the changes I have resisted have often helped me grow and stretch my comfort zones and sometimes reluctantly see that the change is for the best. Change is difficult. We often resist changes in our routines, our relationships, our job duties, people moving in and out of our lives, our health, the death of a close friend or family member, our finances, our environment, and on and on and on!
“Just as the only thing that is constant in this world is change, it is on God’s timetable and He never changes. Will you keep up and accept life’s changes or will you resist and grumble and miss out on what God has planned for you?”
Over the past several months we have been forced to make many changes in our lives at an alarming rate. We have been forced to stay at home and wear a mask. I still find myself having to return to my car to retrieve a mask on my few trips out for necessities. I still have not adjusted to the change that this pandemic has forced on most of us. My impulse to resist change and reject everything strange and new sometimes takes more emotional and physical energy than adjusting to the newness. When I accept that everything is changing and fleeting, things seem to run much more smoothly. So, as I look at some of the results of the COVID-19 pandemic, I see many ways I have been forced to change in a positive light. I have had to learn new ways of doing life from taking care of the physical necessities of life to how to communicate and carry-on business online much of the time. I have been forced to learn and be creative in ways I did not know existed within me.
Change is something we tend to fear and become anxious about because we do not feel in control of life. certainly have felt that life is out of control over the past several months. However, I must remember as the writer of Ecclesiastes so beautifully points out in Chapter 3 that (1) There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens, and (2) He has made everything beautiful in its time. We must remember that God’s timing is perfect timing. Just as the only thing that is constant in this world is change, it is on God’s timetable and He never changes. Will you keep up and accept life’s changes or will you resist and grumble and miss out on what God has planned for you?
Change can be an engine of progress. So, I hope that as you experience many new and forced changes in your life, you will also embrace the new ways that WMU of Virginia is choosing and being forced to accept and change in ways of engaging women and our churches in missions across the state. God is in control. I hope you will be as excited as I am to work together to advance His kingdom.
In His Service,
Lucianne Warren
President, WMU of Virginia