We had both recently finished books that had stayed with us – and as we were describing the basic outlines of the books (and why they had made an impact upon us), we both realised that the others’ book was not our normal reading genre.
So, naturally, a book swap followed!
I am about 2/3 through the borrowed book – it’s definitely a change from my normal go-to fiction! And it’s made me reflect on the positive benefits of branching out into new areas.
Trying new things help us to experience life in new ways, to alter our perspectives and frameworks. They can help us establish or build relationships, they evoke curiosity, they encourage us to try different skills and knowledge. They increasing our confidence to change, making us less intimidated by the unknown. Trying new things may help us to discover that we’ve been missing out on something fantastic!
Broadening my horizons (literary and otherwise!) does not limit my past; I can continue to reach for my tried-and-true preferences. But it does allow me to embrace the inevitability of change, while remaining in the comfort of certain constancies.
Life is unavoidably full of changes. If we refuse to accept change, we stagnate; and thus we are limiting ourselves. If we only live in flux, however, we deny ourselves the depth of connections that challenge us to be the best version of ourselves.
And so we seek a balance as we live into the fullness of our being. As we are confident in who (and whose) we are, we live life with a solid foundation of faith. God is with us; God is guiding us; God is constant. And from this point, we explore the richness of what God’s world has to offer, so that we can learn new ways to love and know love – as we find new ways to know and love God.
Change is going to happen, it’s up to us to decide how to respond to those changes – big and small. John Henry Newman once wrote: “To live is to change; and to be perfect is to have changed often.”
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