New Year

I've never been one for new year's resolutions, but if I figure that if there was ever a year where I wanted to change something about myself or my behavior, this would be the year to do it. When I sit back and reflect on the tremendous amount of change that I will undergo this year, it's rather intimidating. I'll graduate college and experience everything that goes along with that, get married, move to a new city, and probably end up working 50 hours a week doing something I'm only moderately excited about. Why not add something like lose 20 pounds, or be more serious about discipleship on that list? What have I got to lose?
I was sitting on the bus riding to school recently, and while riding I was listening to the conversation my friend was having with a cook he works with in the on campus dining halls. I would say this cook is between 60 and 70, and he was giving my friend a lot of life advice by telling him many stories about his life. Most of what he was saying I thought was rather irrelevant, and then he said "but I'll tell you what, the only thing constant in life is change." The saying sounded trite and trivial at first, but the more I thought about it the truer it became. I'll have plenty of practice in dealing with change in the upcoming year, and I guess that's not a bad thing if I'll be experiencing change for the rest of my life.

I think keeping in mind the constancy of change helps me to not be so anxious about new situations I'll experience. Everything will work out, as it always has, especially if I work hard for the things that matter most to me. I worry about losing the close community of friends that I've formed over the past 3+ years of college, but I hope that I'll be able to recreate that community in another place after I leave this station of life. I worry about finding a career (or vocation) that will allow me to pursue something I'm passionate about, but I know that I have some control over realizing my goals in that regard. Not being able to control the future is daunting at times, but I am comforted by my hope and faith that there is some kind of purpose to what I am doing.