{"id":2728,"date":"2012-09-01T11:17:58","date_gmt":"2012-09-01T11:17:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/?p=2728"},"modified":"2012-09-01T11:20:34","modified_gmt":"2012-09-01T11:20:34","slug":"change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/2012\/09\/change.html","title":{"rendered":"“Change”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Fellow saint and sinner Tammy Perlmutter knows about change.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the last several years, fellow saint and sinner Tammy Perlmutter has, like many of us, witnessed a whole lot of change, much of it just downright sad, hard and disenchanting. \u00a0Tammy posted this wonderful little entry on change in yesterday’s “five minute Friday” challenge. \u00a0(Fellow blogger Lisa-Jo Baker<\/a> began “Five Minute Friday” as a way to encourage aspiring writers and tired moms to put their thoughts down. \u00a0If you’ve ever wanted to write but have been too shy or suffer from writer’s block, this is a great way to try your hand at the craft.) \u00a0Here is Tammy on change, and you can find more of Tammy’s reflections at her blog, Raggle Taggle<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n

The iPod cable in my car is broken, so I\u2019m resorting to CDs. They\u2019re round and flat and shiny and have a hole in the middle. Sometimes there\u2019s a pretty picture on the side that\u2019s not shiny. That\u2019s for you millennials out there.<\/p>\n

I am usually\u00a0in danger of wrecking<\/strong>\u00a0the car when I switch music and since I don\u2019t have that many in my car I\u2019ve just kept one CD in the player for months. Yes, months.\u00a0Ohio<\/em>\u00a0by *Over the Rhine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s one song that has been sitting me with me for so long. It plays in my head as I fall asleep at night. It\u2019s there again, waiting for me, when I wake up. And when I\u2019m riding the elevator. It\u2019s always there lately.<\/p>\n

The title? \u201cChanges Come.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a melancholy little number, with a swear in it, which feels good when I listen to it. I\u2019m right there with Karin when she\u2019s singing it.<\/p>\n

The line about the firstborn son, it\u2019s my favorite one. The fact that it is also the one with the swear in it is neither here nor there.<\/p>\n

She sings about the world being too messed up<\/strong>\u00a0for any firstborn son.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s referring to having\u00a0 a baby, of course, but it got me thinking. Jesus was a firstborn son. As Christians we all have the rights and privileges of firstborn sons.<\/p>\n

Yet changes come. Hardship comes. Circumstances that feel like death come.We\u2019re not exempt, as firstborn as all of us are.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And the changes I\u2019ve seen in the last two years make me want to use that swear in the song. (As if I really haven\u2019t.)<\/p>\n

A friend told me once that\u00a0all change is first perceived as loss.<\/em>\u00a0It\u2019s played out so true in my own life. My world isn\u2019t the same as it was a year ago. My\u00a0heart<\/em>isn\u2019t the same. It\u2019s a little sadder, a bit darker, somewhat softer, slightly stronger.<\/p>\n

But Sunday\u2019s coming.<\/strong><\/p>\n

These same changes that brought down calamity on our heads also brought some blessing our way. So would I trade in the changes? I\u2019d be tempted. I love shortcuts. Escape routes. Secret tunnels. Trap doors that get you out of something quick but into something else just as fast.<\/p>\n

But I hope to change all that.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to stick around and see what changes come.<\/p>\n