I “re-pinned” this when I saw it on Pinterest.*  One of my first-ever pins, actually…

I believe in personal responsibility.  So, it rings true to me that if you aren’t liking something, you should change it.  If you can.

But there are things in my life I can’t change.  I would if I could, but I can’t.

Because they involve outside influences and other people and situations over which I have little to no control.

Judge Judy says to a trouble-making kid, “I’d personally throw you in jail if I were in charge of the whole world, but I’m not.  I am only in charge of this little piece of the universe.”

My universe is way smaller than Judge Judy’s.

Some people say they would never change anything in life because it got-them-where-they-are-today-and-blah-blah-blah and I like how that sounds, but I seriously would change some things.  And it isn’t about not being grateful for the life I have.

I have messed up my own life sometimes. But God is faithful, even and especially to me.  Forgiveness is available and promised, but sometimes the consequences of my own stupidity remain.  Sometimes the reverberations of some one else’s actions have affected my life.  And I wouldn’t have chosen it.  And some questions will never be answered in my lifetime.

Sometimes, you have changed everything you know to change.  You have made amends, you have tried to make the best of bad situations.  You have spoken the truth in {because of} deep love, you have repented and changed your ways, you have walked the lined and you acted uprightly.  Sometimes you have changed all you can, but you can’t change everything.

I am in charge of such a small piece of the universe.  I can’t change the past nor the things some one has said, but I can live in the now and speak blessing anyway.  I can’t change my age, the passing of time nor the weather, but I can think on whatever things are good, and pure and lovely and I can embrace the seasons and I can pray.  Life is a surprise…

And there are things I’d change if I could.

If I could reach the stars

Pull one down for you

Shine it on my heart

So you could see the truth

If I could change the world,  I would be the sunlight in your universe…*

In spite of anything and everything, though, I hold on to an unchanging God, ever faithful,  who “makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.”    2 Cor. 3.18 NLT

If I can be changed, it’ll be worth it.

NOTE TO SELF: Remember, though, that happiness falls so far below living what God intended, living the life I was made for, both whole and holy.  Being “happy” is temporary compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ as Lord.

*Eric Clapton, “If I Could Change the World”