How Do I Make Changes?

Mmm…Velveeta cheese. The color, texture, taste – the packaging! It was like finely aged camembert to my six year old taste buds. Today, you couldn’t pay me enough money to ingest that neon block of rubbery cheese food. So what happened? Did my taste buds develop? Mature? Or could it be that they simply…changed? 

What is change? If my pallet can change, does that mean the rest of me is capable of change? You know, the other parts…the quirks, the neuroses, the way I deal with random Lego pieces left all over the living room rug? No doubt we’ve all been inspired a time or two or twenty by an enlightening book, or inspiring sermon or maybe our child’s Karate Master with the soulful eyes. But what happens to that inspiration? Does it ever last? Or are we simply inspired for a brief period of time to “slip into” or “try on” a newer, fresher attitude, quality or philosophy? At the end of the day, like the designer clothes we package ourselves in, do these new skins fall to the ground as we climb back into our comfy, old, not always redeeming but certainly familiar, flannels? 

For those who can pull off the transformation for a while, how long do they have to wear this new skin before we trust the metamorphosis? At what point are we convinced that it’s the real deal and turning back is no longer an option? Does the subject of the newest celebrity scandal need to spend the next month, year or decade living a life of integrity (enjoying French cheese, if you will) before we are convinced that he or she has changed?  At what point will we stop digging through his or her trash in search of empty boxes of Velveeta? 

Can people’s morals, behaviors, fundamental natures change like their sense of taste? What’s the answer? Whose demonstration of change can we really trust? Now that is the question. I believe the answer is…our own. The only way to trust that people can make profound and lasting changes is to start with ourselves. In my own life I have set forth on a mission to change a quality that does not serve me. A tweak, if you will, on the original design. Nothing too enormous but the change could have enormous positive results. 

Give it a try. We should all take a lesson from our taste buds… some things just don’t taste so good anymore.