God, Grant Me Serenity – Wisdom

“God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.”

If you have been reading this series, you can probably see where we are headed now. The next piece of the serenity prayer I’m going to write about is wisdom. If there are changes we have a choice in and changes we don’t, then we need to be able to discern which is which. What do we have control over? What do we not?

I can tell you one thing, I do not have control over when my WordPress app glitches on my phone and posts something before it is ready. I’m sorry about that.

Wisdom is not just knowledge. Cold, hard knowledge that we shouldn’t do something doesn’t lead to us actually avoiding it. Knowledge is simply fact gathering. A+B = C. Wisdom, on the other hand asks, “What do I do now that I know A+B=C?”

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Cruise Control

Several years back, I drove a Ford Escort ZX2. It didn’t have cruise control. I remember driving through the Flint Hills and being captivated by my surroundings. Before too long, I would look at the speedometer and I was speeding. Cruise control in cars can be really nice as you can set the speed and the car does the rest.

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More Changes

The name of this blog has once again changed. It changed mainly because I committed a blogger’s sin – my website address had nothing to do with the title or content of this blog. Though a lot of the content will still be similar, the disjointedness had to stop. Continue reading “More Changes” →

We All Can Change

The movie Rocky 4 is a parable. At its surface level, its got some pretty nationalistic overtones. Its America vs the Soviet Union. Rocky trains all natural, and the Russian gets loaded up with steroids and has the top of the line equipment. However, when you go just below surface level (and not very far below because the movie really isn’t that subtle) it is a parable about change.

Toward the beginning of the movie, Rocky has an interaction with his old rival Apollo Creed. Apollo accepted a boxing match with the Russian villain of the film, Ivan Drago. Rocky asks Creed, “Do you think your not going into this fight with this Russian?”

Apollo responds, “If not him then who is it against?!”

“Well, don’t you think maybe its more you against you?” Rocky asks. This question hits the nail right on the head for Apollo and for many of us, and Apollo brushes it off. He responds defensively like most of us would, “Maybe you really are brain damaged,” he says to Rocky. Apollo goes on to defend his stance: they are warriors. It is how they were born. They can’t change.

Apollo goes into the fight against Drago and loses his life. Rocky then sets out on a journey to avenge Apollo in which his wife echos the same concern for Rocky as Rocky did Apollo. Rocky remembers that conversation with Apollo, and there may even be a hint of guilt. If only he had stood his ground a little firmer, would his friend still be alive? So, he convinces himself that Apollo was right – he can’t change.

What he finds while training and while fighting was the hard truth – change is possible. However, change isn’t easy. Change requires guts but no glory. Rocky’s speech at the end of the movie drives the point home.

We all can change. What is in your life that you have felt a tug that needs to change, however you just don’t believe you can?