Okay, technically Jesus did not die in 2016.
He died like 2,000 years ago.
But the version of him I knew died in 2016.
It's easy to crystallize people in your mind, isn't it? Like, "Oh, that's just how dad is!" or "Typical Enneagram 1 move!" or "She's been that way since she was a little girl!"
Often, we don't let people change because it's easier to be comfortable with who they were rather than getting to know who they are becoming. It's easier to treat people like statues in the museum of our memories than to vulnerably open our hearts to real, living, complicated humans again and again.
Because their change might prompt us to change. Their questions might prompt our own questions. Their human-ness might make us deal with our uncomfortable human-ness.
One of my friends spent a year doing The Work™ in therapy and experienced significant change. I went to a birthday party with her and watched her gently operate in her new patterns. Someone jokingly said, “Oh, she loves being around people all day, every day!” and my friend kindly said, “Actually, I’m not really like that anymore. I love being alone now.” Her style changed. Her demeanor changed. Her role in her friend group changed. I thought about her in 2008 and how many layers of skin she has shed in the past 15 years. What a gift to know and love every version of her. What a shame it would be to treat her as a sterile statue.
Anyways, I know there is a sense in which God doesn’t change.
But I also know God is not a statue. God is living. God is not constrained to the version of him I was introduced to in elementary school.
In 2016 I realized Jesus was, for all intents and purposes, a statue that didn’t talk back. That simply wasn't good enough. I would have to get my chisel out and crack open the Jesus statue, looking for signs of life, or I would have to lose my faith altogether.
I got my chisel out (questions, doubts) and began breaking down the statue I created. And a lot of years, tears, and grief later... I know less than before 😂 Yet I am convinced of one thing: Jesus at the center holds everything together.
So I wrote a song about it.
This is the core of my life. Some days it feels like I know literally nothing else except that Jesus is at the center. In him I have my being. In him my life is held together.
My next single, Center of it All releases March 17. Pre-save it and let the Spotify/Apple gods know they should put it on playlists!
-Savannah
Thank you.
“Often, we don't let people change because it's easier to be comfortable with who they were rather than getting to know who they are becoming. It's easier to treat people like statues in the museum of our memories than to vulnerably open our hearts to real, living, complicated humans again and again.
Because their change might prompt us to change. Their questions might prompt our own questions. Their human-ness might make us deal with our uncomfortable human-ness.”
Are you and the Holy Spirit on a direct line about my life because danggggggg.