Tag Archives: change

Ever-Changing Seasons (Guest Post)

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Yellow crocuses blooming in the snow.
Image by M W from Pixabay

Ever-Changing Seasons

by Steph Beth Nickel

After what, for many, felt like a never-ending winter, spring is just around the corner. In our neck of the woods, the snow is almost gone. We’ve even experienced a rare winter thunderstorm.

In much of the world, we’ve gotten used to the ever-changing seasons. The first blooms poking through the last thin layer of snow. The increasing warmth of the sun—and the lake. The occasional red and orange leaf. The bitter wind and the dancing snowflakes. And around we go again.

The annual seasons are not the only ones we experience, however. (Of course, not all will necessarily apply.) The seasons of life include… Childhood. Youth. Young adulthood. Employment. Courtship and marriage. Parenthood. Middle age. Empty nest. Retirement. “The Golden Years.”

And throughout the seasons… Relationships of all descriptions. Times of health and illness. Changes of address, more for some than others. Travel, across town and/or across the globe. Education, both formal and that which comes with orbiting the sun year after year.

Of course, you could name several others and further expand on those listed about.

With each season come new joys and new challenges.

My hubby retired approximately 11 months ago, nine days after his 70th birthday. Since then, we have slowly but surely been prepping the house to put on the market. Considering the fact that it’s well over a century old, it will take some time to get everything done.

Dave has always wanted to spend his retirement in a new location, experiencing new adventures. And considering three of our adult children (a son and his wife and our daughter) live two provinces over, that was my vote—despite the long, cold winters. <sigh>

And so, that’s what we’re working towards—we think. Only God knows for sure what His plans are for us.

If we remain here, we can relax and enjoy all the renos. Not to mention, the friends we’ve made over the last four decades.

If the new season of our lives includes a move west, we will experience yet more joys and challenges. Making new friends. Finding a new church. Discovering where God would have us serve. Not to mention selling the first home we ever purchased and buying a new one.

Making our way in a community where we will be, at first, virtually unknown isn’t something we’ve experienced in over 40 years. Talk about making first impressions. I wonder if I remember how to do that.

For now… The decluttering is liberating. The packing of at least temporarily unneeded items gives me a tremendous sense of accomplishment. (The pile of boxes in the loft is growing day by day.) And witnessing the renovations take shape is incredible.

Living in the Now with a view toward tomorrow can be a challenge no matter what season we’re in, but it’s something God calls us to throughout the spring, summer, fall, and winter of life.

Let’s embrace the beauty of our season and trust Him with all that are yet to come.

Photo credit: Jaime Mellor Photography

As an editor, Steph Beth Nickel has the honour of coming alongside writers to help them polish their work. As the coauthor of Paralympian Deb Willows’s memoirs, Steph has been blessed to work with this amazing woman. And as a future self-published author, with the Lord’s help, Steph has taken brave steps toward publication.

If you would like more information about her services, you can contact her at stephbethnickelediting@gmail.com.

You’re invited to visit her website: http://stephbethnickeleditor.com/.

You can join her Editing Tips Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/418423519384351.

Changes

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I’ve read some interesting insights on change recently…

From Mary Waind’s Beech Croft Tales:

The changes in nature can be easier to cope with than new challenges we face in other realms. Joyce Meyer said this week that Satan continually tries to diminish followers of Christ. The word “diminish” impressed me. The Oxford Canadian Dictionary gives the definition “make smaller or less”. The enemy would delight to see us take our first steps toward a fresh project with apprehension and feelings of inadequacy. He would love for us to think the task is too great.

From Chad Lucas’ The Lucas Adventures:

My general view of life, and parenting, is that things are always changing, and very few things last forever. Kids are always going through new phases. Jobs, relationships, and responsibilities in life move in rhythms and waves.

I know there are people who have a hard time with change and probably find that idea difficult, but for me it’s a hopeful thing. When life gets crazy, I remember that it won’t always be this way.

Robin Mark‘s song, “All is Well,” is a good approach to change.

Review: Your Best You, by Bonnie Grove

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Your Best You, by Bonnie Grove (Beacon Hill Press, 2009)

Your Best You, subtitled “Discovering and Developing the Strengths God Gave You,” is about just that: finding positive ways to grow into the unique, effective individuals we were designed to be.

If you’re struggling with an addiction or a stubborn habit, the book won’t be a quick fix but it’s a powerful tool to help you change – if you’re willing to work at changing. Note that the author’s description of stubborn habits includes negative thinking and gossip, not just physical behaviours like smoking or overeating.

Maybe you’re not looking to break any destructive patterns like these. This is still a book worth reading. I didn’t approach it with any sense of felt need to make a change, but I found the exercises on discovering my strengths very enlightening.

The book cover is a clever play on author Bonnie Grove’s method of “trying on” different possibilities for change. Unfortunately, it also implies a limited target readership. Your Best You is a valuable tool for everyone. If you’re a man – or a woman to whom the cover screams “not for you!” – please take a look at the back cover and read the summary, or read some reviews to see what it’s really about.

I’d never articulated my strengths in this way before, nor considered applying them to various facets of my life. Having done so, I’m beginning to see changes. For example, I’m using creativity and organization (with prayer!) to better manage my time and to pre-plan meals. And I’m using perseverance to actually do what’s on my list instead of putting it off. Prayer and persistence will be needed to keep me on track!

Your Best You offers a fresh approach to making changes: first keep a log to discover patterns and triggers, then articulate your goals and explore how to employ your strengths to reach them. I like the Bonnie Grove’s emphasis on not asking “what’s wrong?” so much as asking “what’s right, and how can I use that to make changes?”

The book is filled with charts and questions to help discover your strengths (the author calls them “reflections of God’s image in you”). It may be tempting to skip the application/fill-in sections, to think “I already know this” but it’s very helpful to stop and work them through. I learned a lot.

The questions are designed for reflecting or daydreaming in a positive manner. Daydreaming is one of the author’s strengths, and this may be harder for those who lack it, but these are valuable exercises. There are plenty of examples for those who have trouble filling out inventories. I would have liked to have a list of possible strengths, for those who aren’t strong at critical thinking or observing patterns, but the examples helped.

The author acknowledges that many readers may cringe at allowing ourselves to look at our successes and explore our strengths, as if it’s boastful or self-exalting. However, the point of the exercises is to give God the glory, not to congratulate ourselves. Grove invites us to see what God has done so we can cooperate with Him as He keeps working, and she draws an interesting parallel to the miracle of the loaves and fishes: if we give our gifts back to Jesus, how might He multiply them?

Identifying our strengths, and identifying behaviours we want to change, leads to making “do-able” short goals on the way to reaching long-term goals. Grove likens it to a “you are here” map: first you have to find where you are in relation to what’s around you, then find where you want to go. Then you can plan how to get there.

Prayer is a key element in discovering and implementing this plan. Readers are encouraged to “try on” their strengths in making desired changes, with the expectation that some things will “fit” while others will need adjusting. Grove asks readers to keep a journal of positive results.

One thing she stresses for the journey is the importance of being kind to yourself. Change is a process, and we need to set up meaningful rewards to meet the needs we formerly tried to satisfy through whatever behaviour we want to leave behind.

Kindness to ourselves includes keeping a “strength to change” journal, where each day we record one positive thing we did, chart our progress, and talk to God about the journey. The book includes a wonderful exercise that has readers stop and think about the ways we’ve seen God’s touch on our lives and consider how we know He’s with us.

Relying on God and on one or two trusted and supportive friends is key to our success in the journey to change. Follow-up exercises at the end of the book equip us to plan for continued success so that we don’t revert to what we’ve so intentionally left behind.

Readers can use Your Best You as a workbook for “discovering and developing the strengths God gave us.” Combined with prayer, it can be a powerful tool for positive change in our lives.

You can read an excerpt of Your Best You here.