Why is it so hard to make
changes? If we know something isn’t
working for us any more, if we feel like we are dragging an anchor behind us with
each step, why can’t we just stop doing that and do something else?
Maybe it is just me. Maybe it’s not. Maybe
it is not uncommon to be afraid of change; to be afraid to take risks; to be
afraid to let go of what has been for so long--to reach for something different. What do you do when you are faced with
decisions such as this? I know that my
first way of getting advice is praying.
And then I have a few trusted friends and family members that I know
will give me unbiased, very honest opinions (even if I don’t like it). But in the end, I always know that there must
be a sense of peace in my heart that lets me know that this decision is the
right one--that this change is truly necessary.
I read these words from By the River
Piedra I Sat Down and Wept by Paulo Coelho and thought:
I don’t want this to be me.
“Pitiful is the person who is afraid of taking risks.
Perhaps this person will never be disappointed or disillusioned; perhaps she
won’t suffer the way people do when they have a dream to follow. But when that
person looks back – and at some point everyone looks back – she will hear her
heart saying, “What have you done with the miracles that God planted in your
days? What have you done with the talents God bestowed on you? You buried
yourself in a cave because you were fearful of losing those talents. So this is
your heritage; the certainty that you wasted your life.”
That passage contains some
pretty hard hitting questions—“What have you done with the miracles that God
planted in your days? What have you done
with the talents God bestowed on you?” Wow. How often do we truly stop to see if we are
using all the gifts that God gave us, all the talents He has allowed us to
develop? For myself I have to say, not often
enough. Why would we bury what He has given us instead
of using it to our best ability? I think
of the rich man who entrusted 3 of his servants with a set number of talents
(5, 2 and 1) and put them in charge of their portion until he returned. The servants who had received the 5 talents
and the two talents doubled what they had for the master. They were called “good and faithful servant.” But the one who only received one talent hid
his portion for fear of losing it and therefore gained nothing for his
master. He was called “Thou wicked and slothful servant.”
Now which of these would be better?
Of course--to be the good and faithful servant. (See Matthew 25:14-30 for entire parable.)
That says to me that we are to use
whatever God gave us in a way that is best in His service. Sometimes to truly become the good and
faithful servant we have to have change.
We have take risks. We have to
move away from what is comfortable to where our heart (in hearing God’s voice)
leads us. I think I am often afraid--much
like the 3rd servant. I’m
afraid I’ll mess up somehow; I’m afraid I’ll make the wrong decision; I'm afraid I'll lose what I have. But I’m even more afraid of looking back over
my life with “the certainty that [I] wasted [my] life.”
Think about the gifts and
talents God has entrusted to you. Decide
whether you are using those to His glory or simply hiding them. Sometimes…sometimes we have to get over our
fears, take the risks and fulfill the plan that God has for us. And if we are truly following His lead then we
will have no need to fear. “Be strong and of a good
courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee,
nor forsake thee.” Deuteronomy 31:6
Which servant will you choose to be? What risks or changes are you avoiding? What are you so afraid of?
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