Change

I remember a Hershey's ad from the 90's (I think) that proclaimed, "Change is bad. The Hershey bar: unchanged since <whatever year it was that they said>." Theoretically, there is no reason for that Hershey bar to ever change. After all, why would you want to change something that's already perfect? (Not taking into consideration all those who don't consider Hershey's chocolate to be perfect, though I think it's pretty darn good.)

We need change. Change in itself is a trial. Sometimes, those trials come with us when we're born. Sometimes, we seek them out. At other times, they seem to be randomly forced upon us. For me, I think that change is one of the biggest tests of my faith. I like to be comfortable where I am. I don't like to move. That applies to both the apartment I live in and in my faith. It's all too easy to get complacent and feel that everything is perfect. When we start thinking that, we're always wrong. When life seems too easy, I know that I should expect the unexpected...but I never know exactly what I should be expecting!

There have been several times in my life that the Lord has specifically required me to step outside of my comfort zone. All of these times required big changes: coming to school in Idaho, choosing to go into teaching when I hated speaking in front of people, marrying a guy I had to wait 2 years for, and having a baby right after graduation when I could have gotten a decent-paying job. It would seem that these choices didn't make sense, yet there is no denying that they were the right choices--and changes--to make in my life. I have no doubts about them. I still feel that they were all the right decisions.

The hardest decisions for me are the ones that I don't want to make, even though I feel that they are right. Those are the ones that aren't logical to me in the first place. One such decision I made last summer when I stayed in Rexburg. I had much better opportunities to make money elsewhere, but I knew it was the right thing to do in staying. The job I got? Same thing. It was the last job on earth that I wanted, but it worked out perfectly for my situation.

Now comes the time for another change. What will it be? I guess that remains to be seen. I feel that life is "almost" easy at the moment and that I've gotten a little complacent. But I've been through change before, so bring it on!