Posts Tagged ‘Change’

As we head into the year-end holidays, we look forward to our family traditions. We eat the same dishes, hang the same decorations, see the same people, listen to the same music, engage in the same activities we’ve enjoyed for years or even generations. Humans find comfort in familiarity, and resist change.

At least we resist change suggested by others. If it’s our idea, we can’t figure out why everyone makes such a fuss about trying something new.

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Most of us would like to make … adjustments. We want to lose weight, get healthier, spend more time with our families, grow in our faith, explore new talents, give back to the community. But somehow we’re too busy, have too many responsibilities, are too set in our ways. Hey, it’s tough to change.

Bet Jeffrey Henderson felt that way, too.

The young African American grew up in what was then called South Central—a Los Angeles community synonymous with poverty, crime, drugs, and gangs. At the age when average middle-American kids were transitioning from JV to varsity sports, he was selling crack on street corners. And by 19, he was earning $35,000 a week.

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When I was little, kids didn’t get the food choices they get now. Parents and schools spooned it onto the plate and that was it—take it or leave it. For the most part, I took it. But my stomach instinctively rebelled at one staple of the school diet: the unidentifiable meat.

Oh, the lunch ladies could tell me it was beef, chicken, or fish. But if it came in a pressed patty that I couldn’t readily identify as beef, chicken, or fish, forget it. My stomach would not accept it no matter how carefully it was disguised by sauces, gravies, cheese, or buns. So I missed a lot of post-lunch recesses while lunchroom aides forced me to sit glumly at the table and keep poking at the blob with my fork before finally letting me go.

Maybe I should have been schooling them.

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Make a mark.

It’s what we all want to do, in our own way, isn’t it? Whether it’s by achieving some sort of fame, becoming successful in business, saving lives, saving souls, serving our country, or raising the next generation, we want to leave some imprint of ourselves on the world.

But how? How do we make a difference?

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Screwed up much in life?

Welcome to the club.

Sometimes the biggest mountains we have to move are the consequences of our own mistakes. We assume whatever we’ve done is so HUGE there’s no getting past it. Maybe we’ve gone bankrupt, destroyed a marriage, ruined our credit rating, damaged our reputation, alienated our children, wrecked our health, or committed a crime and wound up in prison. And we can’t imagine how we could ever put the Humpty Dumpty of our lives together again.

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“I don’t want to gain immortality through my work. I want to gain immortality by not dying.”

Of course, writer/director Woody Allen knows better. But when, despite my earnest attempts to explain otherwise, my then six-year-old nephew insisted—red-faced at the top of his lungs—just because people get old doesn’t mean they have to die!!! I didn’t have the heart to keep arguing. Passionate protests aside, I suspect he knew better, too.

When it comes to moving mountains, we understand that while we may be able to survive an accident or illness and postpone our departure for a while, death is one challenge that will eventually best us all. But beyond the last gasp, what other mountains should we learn to accept as permanent parts of our landscape? And which should we fight to move? If you’re having trouble deciding which challenges to take on, try asking yourself these questions:

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