{"id":1143,"date":"2024-10-15T05:00:48","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T12:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/relationshipmatters\/?p=1143"},"modified":"2024-10-13T18:14:26","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T01:14:26","slug":"reflections-on-loss-and-the-unstoppable-reality-of-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/relationshipmatters\/2024\/10\/reflections-on-loss-and-the-unstoppable-reality-of-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections On Loss And The Unstoppable Reality Of Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Cacoons\"
Everything Changes Image by GLady<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Everything changes\u2014every relationship, human system and structure, organization, organism, and cell in our body. Even after death, there is change (aka decay). Nothing earthly on this side of eternity has any permanence. So, like it or not, all things change; it is inevitable.<\/p>\n

Several days ago, my younger brother had a massive heart attack and passed away. He was only sixty-four. I didn\u2019t see that change coming, and it rocked my world.<\/p>\n

A week ago, someone sent me a picture they took of me about twenty-five years ago. I was shocked at how much I\u2019ve changed in a quarter century. I used to be skinny, with jet-black hair and a head full of it. Not so much anymore.<\/p>\n

Once upon a time, I was the \u201cfun and favorite uncle,\u201d but since my divorce and remarriage, let\u2019s say that my status among many family members has radically changed. For the most part, I\u2019m seen now as another disappointing human and written off as a failure.<\/p>\n

I could go on and bore you with a long list of altered realities in my life, but you get the point. In my sixty-seven years of life, probably close to 67,000 things have changed (give or take a zero or two).<\/p>\n

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Everything Changes (Including me)!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To be clear\u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Not all the changes are sad and tragic, but our lives are shaped by the unavoidable forces of time, circumstance, and choice. Seasons shift, people age and pass, relationships begin, transform, evolve, and sometimes end. Life continually reshapes us as we fail, reflect, adjust, adapt, and face new and often unforeseen challenges. Everything in life is in constant motion.<\/p>\n

Our thoughts, perspectives, and emotions are often dynamic rather than static. Many things I once was sure of in my youth and pugnacious about to a fault have faded into the background in many ways. For example, I no longer care whether your theological bent<\/a> is pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib, or pan-trib (i.e., I\u2019m just going to see how it all pans out).<\/p>\n

Of course, I\u2019m not saying nothing matters, or everything is relative. Please don\u2019t accuse me of being a wishy-washy neo-liberal progressive universalist. I still have firmly held beliefs and non-negotiable convictions, but the older I get, the circle of my convictions and absolutes is smaller than it used to be. The more I know, the more I realize what I don\u2019t know. What seemed certain to me at one point faded with new experiences, better understanding, and spiritual maturity.<\/p>\n