I read a Facebook post of one of my former youth group advisers, whom is battling illness. She mentioned that she was apprehensive about returning to the routines of her old life, and handling those adjustments. Immediately it occurred to me that there is no “old” life. Even if NO circumstances seemingly change, we can never go back to what once was. Something will have changed: people, place, events, mentality, etc.

After Kevin passed, I had to create life again. There was no “old” life left to go back to. No home, job, husband. I had given up everything when Kevin became ill to care for him, we had both done so. My old life no longer existed. Even if I had just lost Kevin, getting back into a routine that no longer included his existence would not have been going back to my old ways.

As we move forward in our lives, others may regress, others may move forward, and yet others will remain as they are. No situation from this point on can ever be replicated to its original. Life changes. There is certainly sadness in that, but it’s not all bad. There is much good in things never being the same. It requires us to constantly be willing to adjust and change our lives.

When we get stuck and unwilling to change, we never get to see those moments where the new life we have is just as blessed as what we had before, just quite different. No moment will ever be the same. Pieces will be added and removed, shifted. Some pieces will be a better fit, more complete, or will round out the wholeness of our lives. Let’s refuse to go back to our “old” routine, and instead, embrace the forwardness of the good that is now and ahead.