From the Heart – Ronny Keller Michel

I always boast that I love change. Well, I love change as long as it is progress. When I began teaching, papers were copied on a mimeograph machine. I ended up wearing purple ink many times when I used that machine. Today, the copier that I use even staples the papers together for me. Now, that’s a change that I enjoy.

I love changes that I initiate. I recently moved our glasses and coffee mugs to the cabinet on the opposite side other kitchen I couldn’t believe the complaints that I heard. “What was wrong with where they were?” “The other cabinet was good enough for nine years. What happened?” “A person could die of thirst before they find a glass in this kitchen?” Because it was my decision, I think that relocating the glassware was a good change.

And I really love change that makes life easier for me. My daughter, Monique, lives in the city in which she attends college. We are blessed to have her visit on the weekends. The only part of her weekend trips that I dreaded was the laundry. I didn’t mind washing, drying, and folding her clothes. I just hated the accusations waged against the family when something was misplaced. Why would I take a pair of jeans that I obviously could not fit? Then I had to hear all about how much her clothes cost. I would launch into my ‘you should shop where I do’ lecture. Seriously, my clothes are bigger than hers and cost at least half the price. Anyway, she recently decided that she would do her own laundry. Since I am in favor of any change that makes my life easier, I applauded her decision.

Although Monique reached the laundry decision on her own, I have often been the one to Suggest changes in the lives of others. It’s just easier to wish that my husband and my children would change than to realize that I was the one who needed to improve. And lately, I’ve noticed some are in my life that need improving.

Space does not permit me to list all of my deficiencies, so I’ll just tell you one of them. Sometimes I think that if my family doesn’t agree with me, they’re wrong. I can’t understand why they don’t want to do everything ‘my way’. Surely they must realize that my way makes the most sense.

Imagine my surprise last week when I read Chapter 31 of Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life. In it, the author states that the average person possesses 500 – 700 different skills and abilities, a brain that can handle 100 trillion facts, and DNA unique to any other. ‘There never has been, and never will be, anybody exactly like you,” Writes Warren.

I walked away thinking about the people that I love and made a decision to give them room to be themselves and not demand that they conform to my expectations. I decided to pray that God would breathe life into the gifts that lay dormant in their lives and help them to reach their full potential. Simply put, I changed. Oh, and one more thing that I’ve changed – The Serenity Prayer. My new one is, “God, grant me the serenity to accept the person that I cannot change, the courage to change the only person that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”