Change Part Eight

I am dodging "the human side" of change, because quite frankly I am not sure how to tackle it. Whatever little spark I had when I first questioned whether the true issue was change or our human weakness, has left me.

I guess what I am thinking is that change is inevitable. Last night I sat down with my family and watched old videos from when my children were very young, meanwhile I am sitting with my oldest who will soon have two children of her own. Circumstances change over time and there is nothing we can do to stop it.

I used to travel overseas quite a bit and when someone was traveling with me I would always tell them to savour every moment, because they were going to wake up one morning and realize that the trip was a long time ago. We need to live in the moment, because time marches on and soon we are on to the next moment.

Maybe, the difficulty with change is with us. We can't stop change, so how are we going to handle it. And I mean all of it - the change we initiate, the change that we absolutely don't want, the change that comes from tragedy, the change that come with much pleasure - all of it. Maybe we are so busy trying to manage the change we miss out on what change - both good and bad - can bring. Just maybe there is good to be found in something that looks like a loss.

I think God has a viewpoint on this, "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." Romans 8:28 (NLT)

I'm not saying that we roll over and sing "Que Sera Sera . . ." and allow just anything to happen. There is some true evil at work in this world that does need to be resisted. However, I can't help but wonder if we create most of the difficulties that surround change by our knee jerk reactions and we miss out on the opportunities that come with the change.

If change is inevitable, then why are we trying so hard to push against it? Maybe instead of managing change, we need to manage ourselves. We need to manage our attitude, our perspective, our information, our priorities, our relationships, etc.

We are always either agents of change or subjects of change. When we are change agents, we need to consider the impact that the change will incur and deal with the people, not the systems, in helping them through the change. When we are the subjects of change, then we need to check our own attitudes and to assist the change agents in understanding the impact of the change.

I suppose the other thing that is inevitable is the pain. But, pain management is another topic.