In my last post I wrote about waiting...waiting for answers, waiting for results, endless waiting.
We have gotten an answer. It will change some pretty significant things and, I believe, it will be for the better. But, it is change, and we all know about that. As a person who thrives on change, I find this reluctance, this--in my father's words, bullheadedness--fascinating.
I work in an organization that regularly rotates the leaders. Generally, every four to six years the leaders are moved to a different facility. The purpose of this is to keep everyone and everything new and fresh. And, for the most part, I believe that it works. Everyone in this organization knows that this is the process, but, remarkably, when it happens, people are thrown into chaos and confusion. Their very lives become shaken and shattered when, what they knew would happen, happens. And we begin to see sides of people that we didn't know existed.
In a previous work life I worked with children who had been abused. It was always remarkable to me that in a lot of those cases, the kids would have gone back immediately to the abusive parent if allowed to do so. Yes, they knew the pain and the conflict and, yes, it was horrible, but it was known. They knew what to expect. They understood the rules of the game.
This phenomena doesn't change simply because we are older. Take a father or mother-figure, a leader, away and, even when it's been really, really bad, it's better than what we can't yet see. And when we're afraid about the next step in front of us, if we have no real center of being, we tend to lash out at those we believe responsible for forcing us into this position. "I wasn't happy or content where I was, but YOU made me change! It's all your fault! I don't care if this will be better in a little while. I was OK."
We're satisfied with OK and all right when we could have fabulous, tremendous, and fantastic. God didn't create us for OK or all right. God created each one of us for excellence and, sometimes, it takes a shake-up to push us toward that excellence. It is scary. It is shaky ground. But it is GOOD! It's our destiny, if we so choose.
Can we change these folks who are lashing out and crying out in their anger and their pain? If only that were possible! I heard someone say recently that when you make a change, it's very important to also tell people what is NOT changing. I agree with that. I absolutely do. But the other folks also have to be willing to hear that. We're not there yet. The answer was too recent. But those of us who embrace change will kindly and gently continue to remind them that we are all right, that life will go on-mostly as we know it to be, and that, yes, there will be some changes, but we will love each other through them.
Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
2 Corinthians 5:17
