Category: Uncategorized

There are only two responses most people have when you start to talk about change. And they are complete opposites. Some people really hate change. In fact they will do almost anything they can to avoid it. And when it is thrust upon them by circumstances and life, it really throws them for a loop. Stress levels top out and emotions run high. You may know someone like this.

The other type is those who like change. These are the types of people that the change haters dislike. It is like the saying goes “There are those who like to get up early, and those who hate those who like to get up early.” People who like change can go to extremes of just changing anything and everything because things haven’t changed in at least an hour. And it can be a simple need to change something once a year. But these people need change.

And these two types of people often frustrate and argue with one another. Myself I am a change lover. I have to have things change because I get bored easily, and start looking for something new. My wife is a change hater. She is most at rest when things stay the same.

Now neither personality type is bad. We are the way God wired us. And we need each other deeply. If it wasn’t for my wife holding me down at times, I would run and change anything I could. And if it wasn’t for me, my wife would never change a thing. We need each other to succeed.

In life change is necessary. We cannot live without it. Everything in life that is healthy grows. If it isn’t growing, it isn’t healthy. You don’t have to tell your garden or your kids to grow. If they are healthy, they simply grow. And growth requires change. No change means no growth.

We tend to settle into what we are comfortable with. Which is why most dislike change. It requires them to move their comfort zone. Even those of us who like change dislike moving our comfort zone. We all desire comfort. But is your comfort holding you back from growth? It is one of the dangers.

A person who stops growing doesn’t just stand still. In life there are only two choices. Growth and decline. If your not growing, then your declining. There is no park in life. Just forward and reverse.

So are we growing, or settling for the status quo? Funny thing is status quo is Latin for ‘the mess we are in’. Are we settling for the mess because it is what we know? If we desire to grow as people then we can never stop growing. And growing requires change. To borrow the slogan from milk “Always Grow, Grow Always”. So here is to change.

“An unexamined life is not worth living” Socrates

Many of us have heard this saying.  I know I have at least a couple times.  And yet I haven’t given it much thought.  Until recently that is.  I have begun to look at my life and wonder ‘is my life actually worth living?’  And right now I can’t really tell.  Maybe that is because I haven’t taken the time to look within and ask myself the tough questions.  Most of us don’t.  It may be that we are afraid of the answers we may find.  Or simply because life has taught us differently.

Life goes by us with a blurring pace.  It is like watching a fan go.  If you try to focus on it while it runs you just get dizzy.  And many of us feel that way about our lives.  It just keeps going and going, and the pace feels like it is getting faster and faster not slower.  And we rarely feel like we have time to breathe let alone take a good look at our lives and within our lives.  And yet at what cost?

Where are our lives going?  Can you say you have ended up where you wanted to so far?  I know I can’t.  We go where life takes us and few ever look hard and redirect our lives.  We run after all kinds of things and pursue all kinds of dreams and often end up sacrificing what is actually important to us.  How many times have you heard of someone sacrificing what they knew was right in the hope of gaining wealth or prestige.  Only to look back and regret it later.  Or have lost family and friends in the pursuit of their dreams.

We chase hard after many things and find ourselves often in places we didn’t want to be in.  And I have begun to give this very thing a lot of thought.  I have no complaints of where my life is, but it isn’t where I thought it would be.  There are many things I thought I would have accomplished by now that I haven’t even begun.  And the main reason is I simply haven’t checked where I wanted to go and made sure I stayed on course.  I haven’t examined my life.

This isn’t a new problem.  Jesus talked about this problem in the bible.  He said “What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?” What is it you have given yourself up for to pursue?  The list can be endless.  I know it has been in my life.   Anything we have pursued without examining ourselves has meant we have lost part of ourselves in the pursuit of something.

I can’t say up to now my life has been worth living, because until now I have not taken the time to look within and ask myself the tough questions.  I have lost myself in the pace of my life.  However I can now change that.  And you can to.  It is never to late to ask yourself “Is my life worth living?” and then begin to make the changes necessary.