I don’t like change. I thought I did — or at least, I thought I didn’t mind it.

But really, I like spontaneity. I like new plans coming up right as they’re happening. But I don’t like when I’ve made plans and things start to change. Even when it doesn’t really affect me much, or when the change is better than the original.

When I was 6 or 7, my family and my best friend’s family were on a trip from Nashville to Birmingham to visit my grandparents and aunts and uncles, or so all the kids had been told. I didn’t see this side of the family as much as my dad’s side, so I was super excited. We left early in the morning and around breakfast time we pulled into a McDonald’s. Our parents made us open our suitcases, where we found Mickey Mouse ears — we were really going to Disney World!

Everyone was so excited — and I burst into tears. And not happy tears. One, I was embarrassed that I had spent so much time telling my friends about my aunts and uncles and all the toys they had at their house (a really impressive Polly Pocket collection among them). And two, I had spent so much time thinking about what we would do there, planning it out in my head (and to my friends). And now those plans were useless. It was a really big change.

Constant changes

More recently, embarrassingly, I was going on a trip with my boyfriend and his parents. We had plans to leave on a Thursday morning, fly down to Florida where we’d spend the night at Disney Springs before catching a cruise Friday morning. Then the plans changed — we’d drive down Wednesday and Thursday, taking a longer, more scenic view of the coast and still spending Thursday night at Disney Springs (although a much shorter time).

Then the plans changed back to flying, but flying on Wednesday. Then it changed to driving all in one go on Thursday. Then flying again — we even had our plane tickets. Then it got changed back to driving halfway on Wednesday and halfway on Thursday.

By the time we were leaving early Wednesday morning I could barely look at his parents, much less speak to them. I was so irritated and tired of having the plans changed so much, though it caused me very little to no inconvenience since I wasn’t having to pay for anything or having to figure out meals, hotels, etc. And we were still arriving at roughly the same time as the flight plans.

I did get over both of those pretty easily, after a little while. But my immediate response was way less than ideal and, especially in the second scenario, a major overreaction.

Unchanging truths

Plans change. They always will. Life changes. I can’t control everything. I can hardly control anything. That’s something I need to work on accepting. But there’s one thing that truly never changes — God never changes. His love for us never changes. Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins will never change — it will never not be enough.

While I’m flipping out over my dinner plans changing and having to decide what I want to eat (I look up menus as soon as plans are made), I can be reassured and reminded of those truths.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).