Change It Up!

To change means to do something different. It means to do something that has not been done before. Change can be good or bad. Here, I want to talk about changing for the good. Yes, change can be scary. Change causes us to step out on faith, which means we don't know what will happen or if we'll even like it. Changes don't have to be big or drastic though. They can be small and subtle, but at the same time, noticeable enough that you know something is different. I want to share with you about a change I made recently with my outer appearance. For my birthday back in June, I got copper highlights in my hair at the salon!! I have never had highlights before, so it was a change for me. I had been thinking about it and talking about it for a while, so I just decided in June to go for it. It was my birthday gift to me. I'm glad I decided to change it up with my hair and I love it! That's one example of how we can change it up in our physical appearance. We can also wear an accessory or jewelry that will allow our outfit to pop. I always like to say outfits need to have a pop of color. If you don't wear sunglasses or a hat, try wearing them sometime. If you wear them already, try wearing a different style. I love wearing sunglasses and tried a new style recently. I like the new style! I wore sunglasses when I was in elementary and middle school. But, then somewhere around high school and college, I stopped wearing them. So, one day a few years ago at the school I work at, we had an outside event. It was hot that day and the sun was shining real bright. One of my coworkers said to me would you like to wear a pair of sunglasses as she had an extra pair that day. I said sure. I wore them and loved them! It made me think why did I ever stop wearing sunglasses. It was a change to wear the sunglasses because I hadn't wore them in so long and it was a different style than I had wore before. Not many days after, I remember going to the store and buying my own pair of sunglasses that were similar to the one my coworker let me borrow. Now I love wearing sunglasses and won't turn back! Now, we all have certain colors we wear because we like the color and know they look good on us. Let's try to change it up once a while with the colors we wear. Let me give you an example of how I have embraced a color I normally don't wear. The color red is a color I would normally just wear to church and around Christmas time. Then at work last school year, we were encouraged to wear red for education once a week on Wednesdays. So, I started wearing red on those days and started getting compliments that red looked good on me. It did look nice, I thought to myself. So I started thinking...Hmmm..maybe I should start wearing more red and buy more clothes that were red. Now I am starting to embrace the color red more. Ladies, try a new nail polish color from time to time. I know we have our colors that we know look good on us, but try changing it up sometime. When it comes to our personal time of studying the Word and praying, try adding 5-10 minutes to what you normally do. If you've always studied a certain way (say studying notes in a notebook), try to change it up and make flashcards with the information written on them or have someone quiz you aloud. Try reading a different genre of books. If you always read mysteries, try reading adventures or a collection of poetry. When it comes to ordering meals at restaurants, most of us know what we want and have a favorite we like to order (that's me!!). Let's try changing it up and ordering something different from time to time. If we don't like it, it's okay. At least we tried! Most of us also have a certain area we like to sit in when we go to fast food restaurants. If we usually sit in the booth, try sitting on the stools or vice versa. If we always sit on one side of the restaurant, try sitting on the other side sometime. With meals at our own houses, we can change up the meal from time to time. Start with changing up a vegetable, meat, so forth. We can change the ringtone on our phones and screensavers on our computers from time to time. Changes can be big, but don't have to be. We don't have to wait until a new year comes to change it up. Change can be so freeing! Look for ways throughout the year to wear, order or do something different. Let's change it up!