Far too often I have stomped my foot and said “I will never”. No one has ever said to me, “You know, you need to be more decisive.” But through these last few years I have discovered a beauty and growth that changing my mind can bring about.
At the ripe old age of ten, I thought it would be beyond horrible to live in a stucco house. Then my family moved to New Mexico. Since then I have been blessed to live in many stucco houses including the one I live in now. Looking back I see how silly I was. I see now how my own rules and preferences limited my choices for no reason. How many blessings have I missed because of my silly personal rules and pig-headed mindset?
In the Bible, being stiff-necked is not a desirable attitude. So why do we often see flexibility and changing our mind as a personality flaw? We unflatteringly label those who change their minds as wishy-washy. We forget that listening to the Holy Spirit to guide us requires a pliable mindset. Instead of drawing so many lines in the sand maybe we could open the door to be blessed with friendship, joy and new perspectives.
We laugh about the ridiculous number of rules that the Jewish Pharisees followed but how many do we try to follow to live in polite society? Never double dip; always answer I’m fine how are you; answer yes ma’am and yes sir; wipe your feet before you walk in the door; tip the wait staff; wipe down the shower door after you use it; pick up the dog poop when you walk your dog; open the door for people; offer to help in the kitchen; give your seat to those who are elderly and this list could continue to well over 613! Rules we follow in polite society can be overwhelming. But these are not the rules that this blog is about. It is about those personally chosen inner rules.
It is about the ones that sound like “I won’t ever”. The “I won’t evers” cover choices about what we eat, drink, drive, and where we live, what we do for a living, who we hang out with, church attendance, schools we attend, clothes we wear and our favorite pastimes. All of these things are legitimate choices we have to make.
What if we removed all the “I will never” lines we made in the sand? Would we turn into a bunch of liberal hippies living in a commune or would we be more open to what the Holy Spirit has in store for us? What if we considered eating something that we have sworn we would never eat? What if we considered going to a church we said we would never attend, going to a school that is not special or elite, wearing an outfit that doesn’t suit our age, hanging out with someone with whom we wouldn’t normally associate, driving a vehicle from that company that we don’t like or taking a new job living somewhere we never would consider. Would that make us out of control or would that allow the Holy Spirit to shine through making us happier people with lots of choices? Many times the rules we make for ourselves are the toughest ones to break. They are a prison of our choosing.
Blessed, broken and forgiven: These are the actions Jesus made when he initiated the covenant of the last supper. He does the blessing and forgiving. Maybe we need to spend a little more time on the truth of our brokenness. If, like me, you have always seen changing your mind as a weakness, maybe it is time that you take the first step to stop the facade of strength, and begin living in truth as flexible, broken, forgiven and joyful.
