Catalysts for Change

Today, I enjoyed coffee with a friend at a local hangout for entrepreneurs, theologians and people who have incredibly large and elastic bladders and a lot of time to sit and read.  So, I may have been out of my element a little as I consider myself neither an entrepreneur, a theologian nor a voracious reader, and I’m pretty well maxed out on a 16-oz. beverage.  The company and encouragement was fantastic nonetheless.  We spent some time catching up – recounting the ebbs and flows of family, business and ministry. 

The recent Holiday season was challenging for us as a family.  We spent all of Christmas Eve and much of Christmas Day in the hospital with our daughter and celebrated what will be our last Christmas together as a family of six for a few years (that is a more difficult and personal story than I am inclined to share at this moment).  So together with a dear friend and brother I did a little “silver lining” hunting.  I don’t believe God authors evil but I know He can leverage it for our ultimate good and His glory.

Two things stand out in this as I think about change and various catalysts for change.  In my last post, I sort of laid out some ideals – the perfect life scenarios that we all prefer.  But change doesn’t always come as a result of utopian circumstances.  In fact, I would argue that it rarely comes as a result of utopian circumstances.  I think change is most often the fruit born of difficulty and challenge.  The metaphors are abundant and varied.  A sharp axe is the product of the grindstone.  Fine gold must feel the intense heat of the crucible.  Six pack abs…. you get the idea…. My Holiday was hard.  Incredibly hard – unlike anything I’ve been called upon to endure before.  But the encouragement, the silver lining for which I hunt, is that the probability of change in me has increased exponentially because of the difficulty.  I have a choice.  I can be owned by the difficulty and adversity of the moment or I can leverage it – or perhaps better stated, I can allow God to leverage it to form me into something that is just a little closer to the me of my dreams.

The second thing that was reinforced in my coffee meeting is that the process of change is usually best undertaken in the company of good friends that we know and trust.  I think it is clear that life is not intended to be a solo sport.  We were created for fellowship.  I am reminded more and more of the value of transparency and vulnerability.  And I am incredibly thankful for the God-given gifts of close friends with whom I can be real.  I’ve needed these friends so desperately in recent weeks and months.  They have been like life-rings that God himself has thrown to hold my head above the tempestuous waves of the difficult seas in which I might otherwise have drowned… 

"Thank you, God, for the difficulties that shape me into something more beautiful and useful.  And thank you for the friends that make the necessary friction a little more bearable..."