How Much Change? (07/06/2026)

The other day, I was watching a moth darting about the light outside my porch. One insect goes from egg to caterpillar to cocoon to moth. That crazy insect has been in my thoughts ever since. This morning as I watched a moth flitter about in the garden, it came to mind again as I considered how much one insect goes through to become what it is meant to be. And finally, the LORD got through to me. Finally, I understand why those little critters have been so fascinating to me this week. Finally, I could see the meaning in my own journey.

How much does a person have to go through to become who we are truly meant to be?

We are conceived, we are born, we mature and our appearance changes. But the changes that matter most are those that we can’t always see; they are not physical but rather spiritual. The spiritual changes are conversions, transformations rather than simply metamorphosis. And these changes, I have come to realize, last our lifetime. They are not limited to three or four but rather they are daily changes as the LORD calls us to turn and return. It is John the Baptist’s words played out in our time: “He must increase; I must decrease” (Jn 3:30).

Our journeys of faith, hope and love in Jesus Christ call for much from us. Some days it will be the sacrifices we are asked to make that will stand out, other days it will be the weight of our personal crosses that increases. Through our journeys we will find our thoughts of the LORD increasing and our thoughts of ourselves decreasing. Our journeys will demand of us to set down selfishness and pick up selfless love so that we might love others as the LORD has loved us. To all of us to whom much has been given, much will be asked, and it will involve change, it will involve turning ever more truly to the LORD, it will involve setting down those things that stand between us and the LORD, it will involve sacrifice.

Let us on our journeys of faith, hope and love commit with all our being to opening ourselves to the changes necessary for our own salvation, for our allowing Christ to increase in our minds, hearts and beings and ourselves decrease. Let us willingly choose daily to pick up our crosses and follow the LORD knowing that in order to do so we must set other things down. And when the time comes, when we are asked how much we have loved the LORD, let us be able to spread our arms widely, as He did on the cross for us, as we with hearts full of love respond, “This much.”

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.