Written in Stone

Other than the Ten Commandments and what is written about a person on their tombstone, very few things in life are actually written in stone.  Most things and situations are in fact able to change in some way...now you might not like how they change but they can in fact do so.

People can even change although this process is sort of like trying to edit a manuscript back in the days of Moses.  Whiteout just isn't going to cut it.  The process of changing a person is going to be like chipping away at a stone tablet...slow and tedious and often messy.

In order for people to change they have to be the ones who want to change.  You wanting them to change isn't enough.  Researching how to change them won't work.  You signing up for all the classes isn't going to make it happen.

For example, a wife with a husband who has a problem with alcohol can want her husband to change.  She can read tons of books, go to counseling, seek advice from friends and family who have dealt with a similar situation.  She can even go to AA meetings herself.  All of this might help her cope with an alcoholic husband.  However, it won't help her husband change until he is the one who decides he has a problem and makes the choice to attend a meeting and say "Hi my name is ___________ and I am an alcoholic."  Then he make an effort everyday to change his relationship with alcohol and his wife. 

Change is hard.  Change is scary.  Change is the last thing we want to do sometimes when we have tried everything else.  Change can hurt.  Change can heal.  Change can take us to a place we never knew existed because we never dared to dream that big. 

Until the day they put us ten feet under, we have the ability to change for better or worse.  Until the day those we leave behind must decide what is truly written in stone about us, we have the choice to offer up goodness, love, hope, gratitude, grace, generosity, and so much more to this world and the people we care about.  Until that day, may we all choose to change ourselves, change our families, change our communities, and change our world for the better.