A few days ago, I told my three-year-old daughter that it was time for a change (wet diaper). As she tearfully ascended the stairs, she whined in her most convincing voice, “But Daddy, I don’t want to be changed.”I couldn’t help but laugh at her drama, but when it hit me what she said, it really struck me as funny. I maintain the hardest part of parenting is trying not to laugh.The communications and life application point(s) are not lost on me, either. First, there are many ways to take a message. The only one that matters is the way the audience takes it. Doesn’t matter what you want to say, it matters what was heard. Next, while I doubt my daughter would realize what she said in light of how humans want their status quo, it’s amazing how quickly that becomes ingrained into our being. In a world defined by inevitable change, we are often shocked when things — and especially us– do, in fact, change. And last, it is a rare being that is able to make a change on their own, no more than my daughter can change her own diaper. It is those blessed folks around us (that often aggravate us to no end) that are most able to effect the change that we so desparately need.
If you’re not changing, you’re the same old you. Get someone to help you change today.
I will paraphrase (and likewise massacre) a comment I heard from my pastor in a church personnel committee meeting. He attributed it to famed therapist/rabbi, Edwin Friedman (of “Friendman’s Fable’s”). The gist of it was:People only change because of loss or pain.Which is why we so need those aggravations to help us change.