Inspiration to Change

I became a father for the 4th time last Saturday to a healthy baby boy. No doubt life as Jac, Hannah, Rachel and I know it will never be the same...everything will change. The lyrics of the song "Constant Change" by Jose Mari Chan go through my mind, as I write this blog entry.

We decided to name him Jacob Paul after 2 famous characters in the bible, Jacob who wrestled with God and later became Israel which means "t0 persevere with God" and Paul who was the most prolific writer of the new testament.

The miracle of life is something that never ceases to amaze me and having another baby after losing one (our 3rd child Valerie Faith left to be with the Lord shortly after she was born last year) makes this new addition to the family truly a blessing.

It is hard to express the joy that you feel when you are able to hold your baby in your arms for the first time...no matter how tired you are feeling, no matter how hard the past nine months of the pregnancy was - all that can not compare to the feeling of wonder and awe and joy.

But I digress...

While we often talk about the importance of change as people who are always learning and improving, we have not really talked about the inspiration we have to change...

Change after all is difficult, especially if we are involved directly in one, whether in our organization or personally when we get married or have a child like me.

One of the reasons, I am inspired to change is my desire to have a better future for my children. I have often said, that we did not inherit the earth from our parents, but borrowed it from our children...i.e. our children serve as our inspirations.

A shared vision is also another one of those things that inspire change, imagine watching JFK as he shared his vision of bringing an American astronaut to the moon and back before the end of the decade, when they were barely able to send monkeys into orbit and were so behind the Russians in the space race.

Fear of the Lord is yet another inspiration to change, in Psalm 111:10 the bible says, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise."

I learned today that Fear of the Lord is about living a transformed (changed) life, not because we are afraid of his wrath, but because we love Him so much that we do our best (and live a changed life) in order not to displease Him.

Ultimately, change in all of the examples above is about love. We change because we love - our children, our God, our vision of a better future.

If you are experiencing a change today, it is important to ask why change is important to you. Choose to be inspired by it, whatever it is. It will unleash creativity and courage that were missing when change began...I guarantee it.