Displace: take over the place, position, or role of.

I have been ruminating on displacement as a mechanism for change lately.

As I walked my dog and my husband earlier this week, I was acutely aware of the change in the seasons. The green of the leaves changing to yellow and orange, the blackberries that had been abundant on the bushes over the last month were now sparse and spent. There were no loud diving birds luring me away from their young, and as we finished our walk and looked out over the Ashley River/ Rakahuri there was now a distinct mist and smell in the early evening air. Summer is being displaced by autumn.

And just as there is change in the air outside, there is change in the air inside our house too. There are boxes aplenty being brought in from the garage, sorting and memories being found and paraded as one of my chicks prepares to leave from the nest.

Just like physical nature, human nature doesn’t like a vacuum so as I speak with people about changes that they would like to see God helping them bring about in their lives, we intentionally speak not only of what they want gone but what they want it to be displaced with. E.g. gone will be the negative thoughts around my value and worth, instead I will pray for and build in new opportunities to connect with people and God.

As I pause and look into the now unused bedroom, I see things slowly taken away but I also see other things are finding their way in. The room never empty, just things being displaced. I am thankful that God who sustains all things, holds my heart in His hands, giving me confidence to seek curiously that which He will bring about in the new season at home. And Adam, he has a slightly different perspective.

Your life will be filled with something, but you get to work with God and choose what that something is.

Colleen