How to Be Okay with All This Going On: A Change is Gonna Come

If you’re low on things to believe in these days, one thing is certain: change is gonna come. You can bank on that. The tide will turn. The season will change. Pick your metaphor. Change is inevitable.

We are in the midst of change as we speak. Despite much clamor in opposition, the U.S. will transition to a new administration today. Someone’s day in the sun is over, and another’s has begun. We do this every four to eight years, and despite recent efforts to subvert this, right on schedule, everyone will have a new president.

Some feel the need to catastrophize this process. Every election does this to some extent, but this year especially had a lot of people hitting the panic button. “Fighting for the soul of our nation.” “Our country has been under siege.” “The fight of our lives.” Do these hyperboles sound familiar? It’s rhetoric used to stir people up and give them an incredible false sense of urgency.

Look, presidents come and go, and yet we’re still here. The Republic—bruised and battered—remains. No matter how many times they said it’s over. No matter how many times someone ran through the streets screaming, “The sky is falling.” In God’s infinite grace and (perhaps) questionable wisdom, America manages to keep on keepin’ on. If we were a song, it would be Elton John’s “I’m Still Standing.”

Change is good. We need change. Only dead things don’t change. However, we haven’t seen a change yet that ended everything. And chances are, it’s probably not going to be today.

So, take heart in this beautiful transition—whether you wanted it or not. Because it’s here and it’s happening. And if history is any prediction for the future, it won’t take us down. If anything, it will propel us farther than we’ve ever gone before.

~jennifer.