The Times They Are a' Changin

In Harry Potter, the lovable Hagrid says, “What’s coming will come, and we’ll meet it when it does.”

It’s always struck me how simple yet profound that statement really is…and how little my prayers reflect what I truly believe about the character of God.

So much has happened to all of us since 2020, and change changes us. We can’t help it. Every time we experience change, good or bad, stress hits. We become different people. I am no exception.

Change also brings fear, and I find myself praying “please don’t” prayers because the medieval me still believes in a God that has pagan qualities that are appeased by my works or wrathful of my lack thereof. I can’t help it. Weren’t we all taught this version of God in some way, shape or form, even if unintentionally?

Three years ago today, I drove away from a place I worked for four years, ending a teaching career I'd had in one form or another off and on since 1999.

Education is fickle, subjective and often futile. Trends change, what’s true depends on the person, culture and religion, and oftentimes, we spend years training for one path, only to walk another. One man’s education is another man’s Tomfoolery, if you ask me.

But I didn’t get into teaching for the educating, anyway.

I love literature and history, but the real reason I wanted to teach was because as a child, it was my teachers who made me feel valuable when I needed it most.

One was a dance teacher who made me believe I was one of the top in the class. (I have no doubt I wasn’t.)

Three were English teachers who instilled a great love of reading in me. They told me I was a writer, and they stood by me as I won awards that they had nominated me for.

One was a show choir director who loved me enough to call me a leader — and to tell me I was killing myself and needed to stop. (I didn’t listen to her, but at least she cared enough to tell me.)

Countless other teachers taught me through time and effort that I was worthy of something better. I mattered. I belonged.

This was my goal, too, for each child to leave my classroom believing they were valuable simply because they were here.

Three years ago, I left that place knowing I had accomplished what I'd set out to do. It was time to move on. 

I’ve learned that in order to fully love some people, I have to let them go.

There is no way to occupy a space with those who do not share my goal of loving all people with no strings attached, the way I believe God loves us. A free gift isn’t free if you have to work for it. Grace isn’t Grace if I’m doing something to effect it. And I simply refuse to believe in a God who says he “wills for all to be saved,” but can’t save all. That’s a God too small and too pagan for me. (I said what I said.)

If my humanity is saving me, I’m screwed. If God’s character is one that doesn’t allow me to know Him because He’s chosen for me to die and burn in eternal torment "for His glory," I’m just as screwed. Neither way makes a lick of sense, and the whole “God is God, and we can’t question” gets less palatable the older I get and the more I experience.

And so, I find myself standing on the edge of change, ready to meet what’s coming, knowing that I have such little control over the outcome of events, understanding that my prayers might not be answered the way I want them to be, realizing that I’ll be okay if that’s the case because I worship a Creator bigger than me. And praise be to that!

What’s coming will come, and I’ll meet it when it does.