CORE at Camptonville Academy Beat: Change is part of life
Change is painful. You have to take something you have thought of as right for maybe years and rearrange it to match truth. Or maybe you have to take an unwanted habit or action captive, then dissect it and figure out how you can change it becoming a better person for it. Yet people resist change. They want to come through the process and be a better person without getting their hands dirty and without being in the trial.
Think about this: To come through something, you have to have been in it at one point. For example, if you need to be on the other side of a tunnel, you have to go through it. And to go through it, you have to have been in it. But let's say it is a dark tunnel with only a dim light at the end. You can't see where you are going except forward. There definitely will be obstructions and road blocks making it hard to continue. You can choose to run back from whence you came, or you can choose to pick yourself up and continue. If you run back, your wounds will not heal; the dirt will not be washed from your skin. If you continue, there is a chance you will find someone in the tunnel with you. Together you can face obstacles more easily; if one falls the other person can help you up. Consider it a blessing to find someone there with you to help you grow.
If you are afraid of change and the uncomfortable process or the tension and heat that may come out of the relationship with this other person, I have a few rebuttals. First, if you are afraid, then think on this: All living things grow and all growing things change. If you are not changing or growing, you are probably dead. Now what scares you more: death, or change and maybe a little heat?
Now, as for differing opinions, listen to them and do not reject their thoughts without consideration. A wise teacher named Solomon once said, "Iron sharpens iron, so one man can sharpen another." Imagine two pieces of iron smashing into one another. There will be some heat and friction.
Do you ever feel heated when someone does not agree with you? Yet heat in thermochemistry is kinetic energy. Kinetic energy implies force or movement. Force and movement change and/or rearrange objects and matter. Sure, you can burn yourself by resisting the kinetic energy of a fire, but have you ever moved your finger through a candle flame? If you pass through fire at the right pace you will likely not burn yourself. However, you have to have the courage to pass through. And to pass through, you have to have strength to go into it. Either way, on the other side of the flame, your finger maybe warmer and a little red, but not damaged beyond repair. It is still useable. Maybe you are even wiser so next time you know how to pass through a flame. You might even be able to help someone else as they pass through a flame (change and/or trial).
Do you see the connections? Change causes heat, and heat and growth interconnect. Heat is energy. Living things need energy to grow. Perhaps this is why not many plants or other living, growing things survive on the North and South Poles. There is no friction or change where it is cold and stale. Where it is cold and stale, there is no heat.
