10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
I took a personal inventory late last night and it was very revealing. Marti made me get up out of bed to write it down lest I forget it by morning which is my standard practice. I have a complicated system of forgetfulness, and no, it’s not Alzheimers. It’s a coping mechanism. I’ve been doing this most of my life. I conveniently forget whatever is too painful to remember. And change is painful.
Most of the items in my inventory have to do with things I need to change, and the big question is: do I want to change? I am aware of the pull to stay the same. Change takes effort. It means being alert, on guard, fully awake and plugged into the Lord. It’s true we can’t change ourselves; only God can change us. Still, we have to want it, and we have to get ourselves to the place of risking something in order to have it. We don’t just snap our fingers for this and out comes new person.
The way we’ve always been, even if it’s not healthy, is the greatest addiction of all. Call it the status quo. Call it the way we were. When you’re my age, there’s a little voice inside your head that tells you, “You’re too old to change. You’re done. If it hasn’t happened by now, it’s not gonna happen.”
And yet, there doesn’t seem to be any age consideration placed on 2 Corinthians 5:17: “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” Yes, the new life has begun, but in order to experience this new life, we need to step into it. Paul tells us to “put off” the old and “put on” the new. That sounds like an act of the will to me. That’s a choice. And I believe we must make that choice moment by moment, every day.
So here we go. Who’s going to join me? Step out of the old; step into the new. Make the choice.
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