Hello my lovely friends and family, it is I, the elusive Ashlyn Miller returning from her blogging disappearance, yet again. I wish I had a better excuse than the one I do, which is my mixed combination of laziness and writers block.
I have decided to write about one of the most written about yet misunderstood concepts in the world: change.
What is change?
CHANGE:
Verb
1. make or become different.
2. take or use another instead of.
Noun
1. the act or instance of making or becoming different.
2. coins as opposed to paper currency.
I wanna take a moment to break down each of these definitions…
MAKE OR BECOME DIFFERENT
When I read this, I think of an artist with clay in their hands, shaping and shifting this work of art upon their skin. Constantly finding something they can twist a little more or thin out a little bit. Adding colors and personality. Making it whatever they want it to be, and no matter what, it is beautiful. Because they made it, and a part of them is in this creation of theirs. We call this act beautiful, yet when it is happening to us, we call it scary, painful, not what we wanted. Add God into this picture. An artist shaping and shifting his creation, adding colors and personality. Intwining purpose with beauty. He calls this act beautiful, and we call it scary, painful, and not what we wanted. I wonder how many beautiful pieces of art God has made for us that we refused. I wonder how many opportunities God painted for me that I missed. God thrives on making us become different in beautiful ways. We were not made to ever be content with who we are or where we are at, because there is always more. Always more smiles, more laughter, more freedom, more opportunity, more dreams… We are a work of art, constantly being added to. And sometimes, we have to change in order to achieve those things. I would never have been sitting in this adorable cafe in Fort Worth, Texas that I have grown to adore if I hadn’t moved here. I wouldn’t have started working with an amazing group of human beings at Apple that inspire me everyday to be the best version of myself I can possibly be. I wouldn’t have started going to Gateway and changing my relationship with God. If I hadn’t made my life different, if I hadn’t changed my location, I wouldn’t be me. I dreaded moving here, I made myself miserable here for months. I refused to see how beautiful some of the changes around me were. There are many days where I look back at those weeks of my refusal that I wish I could take back. I wish I could’ve let go of my “comfort” in things I had known, to be brave and jump into the unknown. Because once I did, I saw how beautiful change is. I saw God’s purpose begin to unfold, and even though I am no where near done with this season of change, it isn’t so scary anymore. I want to stop being afraid of change, I want to stretch out and let God mold my life into a new piece of art every single day, that I would never call change ugly again.
TAKE OR USE INSTEAD OF ANOTHER
With the word change, comes opportunity, as in we have an opportunity to embrace change. When we are faced with change, we have the opportunity to run in fear and stay where we are, or dance in the wind of change and grow. It blows my mind how easily we stay where we are. We feel like we have the best view possible from the step we are standing on instead of taking in a huge breath of fresh air and jumping to the next one! We have the opportunity to TAKE the opportunities, instead of staying in our current one. New opportunities come for a reason, and even though they sometimes cause us to stretch and grow, it is so we can see an even higher and more beautiful view. This concept of seeing a bigger brighter view inspires me to grow closer to Jesus, as he has the most beautiful view of us all. Even Jesus has opportunities. With all of the evil that goes through the world everyday, Jesus chooses every morning and every night to continue to believe. To believe that we will all be beautiful tomorrow, and that light will reign again. If God can look at the earth and still believe it can be beautiful, that earth can still draw heaven near, how could I not believe that in my life. I want to stop being afraid of change, I want to jump out of the shade and into the sunlight, letting God grow and flourish my life, even and ESPECIALLY when I don’t understand what he is doing.
THE ACT OR INSTANCE OF MAKING OR BECOMING DIFFERENT
One of my favorite things to do in life is to try new foods. I love trying different cultures’ foods and savoring all of the different flavors that come with each. I have a firm policy of trying everything at least once when it comes to food, and I laugh at myself often for not embracing that concept in more areas of my life. At the beginning of this year, I decided to name this year my “fearless” year, my attempt to flood this desire of trying everything at least once, this desire of embracing different experiences and goals and challenges, into every corner of my life. I think one of my failures in accomplishing this goal is that I expect change to occur in an instance, when really change cannot be limited. It has never been sent with a specific time amount, for if it was, we might miss out on the full capacity of that season’s growth, and I don’t want to miss out anymore. SO that being said, I am through with limiting my instances of change to an instance. I want my whole life to be an open act of change, that by being so free and open to change, others around me might cease being afraid of change themselves. I want to stop being afraid of different, I want to grow with every twist and turn instead of choosing to remain, iwant to paint my life different, letting God use me as a beacon of light to those who fear the unknown, that I would never fear the unknown again, and never limit the amount of change, or the amount of time it takes for my changes to occur. NO MORE LIMITS.
COINS AS OPPOSED TO PAPER CURRENCY
This one may be my very favorite today as I realized something super important. Physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual change, is SO MUCH LIKE LITERAL CHANGE. I am talking pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters… Change, no matter the size of the amount, is WORTH SOMETHING. Even a penny is worth something! CHANGE IN OUR LIVES IS THE SAME WAY. Change happens for a reason because it is WORTH SOMETHING. And without change, we could not attain certain things in our lives!!! Change is something we work for and use daily, and CHANGE ADDS UP. I have never been very good at collecting change in a big jar like you see in the movies, but I want this year to be the year that I proudly put out my change jar in my heart and watch it fill up. That I would use my change to experience beautiful experiences and adventures. I want to open my eyes to the vast and grand worth of change, letting God fill me to the brim with it, that I would learn great things, and us those great things to be a great thing. That I would count my change as lucky and worth saving up and keeping, no matter how big or small. NO MORE LIMITS.
My friends, change can make us beautiful. Change can be a beautiful opportunity worth taking. Change can be a beautiful instance, or a beautiful while. Change can be worth something, IF we see, take, believe, and receive it as such. WE ARE DONE BEING AFRAID. It is time to dance in the rain of change and flourish!!! We all have it in us!! God made us to be forever changing, forever taking that next step and seeing that next view, and we are done being afraid because God did not make us to be afraid.
So as for me, and I pray for all of you, let’s change.
God I pray for my heart, and for the heart of everyone on this earth, that change would come. That beauty would reign again and that we would grow more and more in you every single day. That we would all stretch up to the sky and continue to grow closer and closer to you every single day. That we would see more and more the beauty that you see and never fear taking a step higher every again. May this be the year where our hearts cry out for change and walk out every step you have of us. God thank you for you unending patience and grace, my we extend those same gifts to ourselves and those around us. No more fear, in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
Let’s do this.
Time to grow.
Time to step into the light.
Won’t you join me?
All my love,
Ash