I don't make new year's resolutions any longer. Rather, I celebrate the anniversary of and recommit myself to resolutions of yesteryear each January. Changing the patterns and behaviors that my resolutions require is a difficult task. I have often heard the phrase, 'Change is tough.' I believe, however, that for most of us change is simply undesirable. Once desired, it comes more easily. Case in point, if I desired change, then my new year's resolutions would become obsolete. After all, how many of us make grandiose resolutions during the month of January only to jettison them by early March?
Initially all change requires desire. We must want, long, and yearn for change before we will commit our lives to a new way of living. There is, however, another component of change: trust. We must trust in the change or the expected outcome of the change before we will desire change. This is particularly important when considering deep change. When I say deep I mean the type of change that alters how we perceive and live in and relate to the world. This level of deep change goes beyond the surface changes we make daily (soap choice, soda choice, etc.) to change in habits that are ingrained into our way of thinking and behaving.
Consider the pitcher who has been working at his/her discipline for years, perhaps decades. Much of the mechanics are ingrained into their way of thought and behavior. They truly do not think about their arm or ball position, leg kick, foot work, etc. They simply do what they have always done. One day, however, a new coach shows up and casts a vision for a better outcome if they make certain changes. The coach tells them the ball will have more 'pop,' 'zip,' or 'better location,' if they simply make a few changes to their mechanics (habits). In order for the pitcher to commit to this change, he/she must both desire and trust! They must desire the outcome or they will never commit to change. They must also trust the coach and his/her ability to aid them in their quest for change or they will never fully commit to the new habits and lifestyle necessary to complete the change. Deep change requires desire plus trust.
Why trust? Why desire? Because the change proposed will strike at the core of both intuition and habituation formed in the previous years or decades of their baseball experience. Indeed, everything they know will need to change. This change will happen as a result of repeated and consist practice of the newly required habit/discipline.
The same is true for us in life. Much of our current behavior is a product of decades of habit formation (either positive or negative) designed to produce such behavior. In fact, the successful change products in modern commerce are those that effectively aid us in habit formation or reformation (e.g., diet and exercise programs). Indeed, we have not tried change and quit simply because we found it difficult. We have tried change and quit because we lacked the adequate desire and trust required to rehabituate and reform years of ingrained behavior patterns that come naturally to us today.
Perhaps this is why the message of Christ and His Kingdom is so undesirable to many today (I am speaking particularly to Christians here). When Christ introduced his message he made profound statements. For example, in Mark chapter 1 Christ tells us that we must 'change our hearts and lives and trust this good news.' His words are telling. Change of our hearts and lives (deep change) comes as we trust in the change agent and His ability to aid the change required. The seed bed of desire is the soil of trust.
These words of our Lord cause me pause. They force reflection before decision. As I consider these words, I ask myself the following questions: what do I desire? and in whom do I trust? Perhaps our lack of deep change is shaped by false desire and grounded in misplaced to trust. Words worth receiving before I finalize my plans for change in 2012.
Change . . . trust . . . desire.
the shape of desire!
Biz
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