Press the arrow to listen to Nichole Nordeman sing “Gratitude” as you read today’s devotion about change.

Scripture
Moab has been at ease since his youth;
He has also been undisturbed, like wine on its dregs,
And he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
Nor has he gone into exile.
Therefore he retains his flavor,
And his aroma has not changed. Jeremiah 48:11

Observation
I am thankful for the many changes in my life for they have kept me from the curse of sameness. I pastored a retired woman who had lived in the same house since 1927, and from the looks of the place the furniture had not moved since then either. I couldn’t bear that stagnation.

I’m thankful for the twenty-one homes I’ve lived in the past 46 years of my life. I’m thankful for the eight local churches I’ve called home over that same length of time. Every change has improved my flavor. In me in the  spices and aromas of many places.

Application
To be honest, on hard days I’m not very thankful for any of this change. There is a part of me that envies the woman living in a house since ’27. Somehow to me that seems more respectable. That is until I sip the wine of my life and roll the flavors around on my tongue. Change does have its advantages.

There is a wine master of my life who is pouring me from barrel to bottle and back again until the mixture of my life pleases him. I need to interpret change well. Change is what makes me who I am; it does not keep me from whom I am supposed to be. I’m not going to resist the keeper of the wine cellar as he works on my aging process. I’m going to cooperate because the results are worth it.

Prayer
Father, I don’t ask for change, but I do ask that you would make the most of it when it comes. Amen.