I recently had my kitchen redecorated. In order to clear the way for the decorator the room had to be emptied, and a set of large wooden shelves around the walls removed. Over 6 years I’d grown used to the way the room was and it was always my intention to put everything back in the same places. That was until the shelves came down. Suddenly the room seemed twice the size and I began to wonder how it would look if I didn’t put them back up. But if I didn’t put them back I’d have to find new homes for all the things that had been on the shelves, and that would mean clearing some cupboard space, and if I was going to move a few things then why not rearrange everything? Suffice it to say the painting took a day to complete, the rearranging is taking a lot longer.
So too in life we can go for years living quite happily with what seems familiar, until something happens to change one thing and before we know it we’ve changed everything. Over the years I’ve known so many for whom an encounter with Jesus is the catalyst that starts this process. People who seemed quite content with who they were before they met Him, but who after meeting Him choose to change everything.