07 September 2005

Warning: Outside processing!!!

I am wondering about leadership these days. I was invited to be a part of a leadership weekend for some college students and it is causing me to think a lot about being an agent of change. I think that leadership should affect change. Can change take place and what does it take to make it last? It is easy to make changes. Run your car into the side of a building and you have made a change. But is it the kind of change that is needed. At what point do we make a change that causes a new course to be followed. Does it take new personnel, new facilities, new clothes, new location, new job, or what? I am wondering these things because I need a change, I am at the end of me again. I think Calvin Crest is at the end of me. Something needs to change in order for something new to take place. Does it call for a new person in my position or a new position in my person? Do I need to change? Do I leave and do what I do at a different place or do I change, by allowing this location to facilitate some of the change?

The easy thing to do is leave. But the change needs to take place within me first before it can take place outside of me. Maybe the outside doesn't need to change, only me. I will start there. I need to lose weight, so what has to change in order for that to happen? I can read books, go to seminars, talk about it with friends and family, but will that create the change needed? Change doesn't come from talk, it begins with talk. I have to begin action on my own.

Real change cannot be cosmetic I think it has to affect the DNA. We have consumed so much and have so much at our disposal that if we don't like something we quit and go to the next place until we find something we approve of. Moving on is easier than staying and making change. We find that the easiest thing to do is move on. Change the environment, location, personnel, menu, consumption, conversation, but do not change the behavior, the mind, or the heart. We need to change our hearts, align our thinking patterns, and reach deep into our soul to make real change. It requires commitment to do that which is best, that which is right. Virtue. Regardless of the cost. Am I still willing to pay the price of change.

A real fear in me right now is not change but decline. Decline into a cynic. A sideline sitter. A half empty philosopher. Put back on a suit. Take out my earring. Start a comb-over. Give up on the youth. Wear more polyester. Watch Dr. Phil and Oprah. Drink lite beer.

Today I read from 2 Peter 1 and I want to live a life of abundance in grace and peace. That means watching for the potential for change in me and seeing the potential of change in others. Believe in the second chance. Believe in the possibility of redemption. Peace is being in harmony with grace. Not fighting it but moving with it. As a body surfer moves with the waves. Harmony. It is different than conforming. It is having a place and allowing others their place.

I don't know if this makes any sense but I wanted to get it out of my head for a little while. I posted it last night but it was too confusing so I retrieved it and worked on it for a while this afternoon...

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