Another Change

It seems inevitable in my life that change is going to happen. It follows me, it leads me, and it sustains me, but sometimes it is hard to accept because it means that something didn't work out. Rarely has change happened in my life because everything is going perfect and so lets change it! However, I have discovered that when perfection has set in so has complacency. Complacency means "a feeling of smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one's achievements" (Google Dictionary). When things are so right its easy to be proud of oneself and to boost about it, but when things go wrong it leaves you with a feeling of failure. It causes you to question your abilities, education, knowledge and your capacity to be applicable in your environment. To relieve that feeling, you either talk about it to anyone who will listen or you draw it into yourself and let the stress break you out in visible cold sores for the world to see (that would be me).

Another change is happening in my life this Monday. I am moving within my organization to a new position and I have mixed emotions about it. I am thrilled to work within the community that I have invested in through the purchase of a home, yet I left behind four other great communities for this change. I will have one boss instead of seven bosses, but with each leader I learned something from him/her about leadership styles and skills. I will travel less, but I will miss the beauty of the Fox Valley area especially during the Fall season. I will encounter new donors, volunteers, staff and board members, but I won't be in contact with those I built relationships with over the past 2 1/2 years. While change is good, it is also perplexing to the heart and mind.

One of my favorite quotes from Gandhi is, "be the change you want to see in the world," yet I don't think he was talking about the change in my situation. He was talking about being where you are at the moment you are and making a change in the lives you come in contact. While I mourn the loss of one journey, I am getting ready for another and I want to be totally engaged in this change. I want to see change in myself, the impact to the organization I work for, and finally in the lives of individuals in the community in which I serve. I believe that God gives us the change we can handle and provides change when we need it. Ecclesiastes 3:1 states, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens..." While this is my season of change, I will embrace it with all the wisdom of Gandhi and all the power of the Holy Spirit!

Blessings, Beverly