In 2019 on a vacation trip to south Texas, I stumbled upon a fossil rock that has fascinated me ever since. I have been able to identify one or two of the fossils but have not sought to go into detail. What has intrigued me is wondering how old these ancient organisms may be. Centuries old? Thousands of years old? Millions of years old? And how did they become embedded in this rock? What was the process that encased them in this rock forever? With this rock I am holding a time capsule with unanswered questions and more which are unanswerable in such a distant future from their lifetime here on earth.
These fossils are a picture in a rock. It is the freezing of time in a solid material in the same way a photograph is a frozen moment on paper or on a screen. For all these years nature has locked the fossils in place, and it gives a picture of what they were like years ago. The process of change has stopped never to start up again for these creatures. Even the natural process of decay has halted in the solidification process.
We would like to stop the clock of change. It may be that we enjoy our family now and do not want things to change. But we know as the children mature, they will one day move on leaving an empty nest. Or it may be that the aging process is becoming more evident day by day. With all our efforts to stop it failing, we would like to reverse it. But we know that is not possible just as it is impossible to bring the fossils in the rock back to life.
How then do we manage change? I would say the only ones who like change are babies in dirty diapers. Yet deep down inside we know that change is inevitable. We need to recognize that change can be a sign of growth. While change can be regression, such as aging, we can still be growing, or progressing, in other ways. We are not just physical beings. Though the physical is decaying, we can be growing socially, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. For the Christian spiritual growth is the top priority. We are to move from milk to the solid food of the gospel. We cannot live on our past experiences or accomplishments in the spiritual realm. When we stop growing spiritually, spiritual decay has started to set in. In Philippians 3:14 St. Paul says, “I continue my pursuit toward the goal.” St. Paul embraced spiritual change and growth fully and we can do nothing less. Let us press on towards the goal.
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