Thursday after Ash Wednesday

If you want to make enemies, try to change something. – Woodrow Wilson

We all want to be liked. We all want to be loved. So one of the greatest impediments to change is the fear of upsetting the apple cart — offending one’s friends. Yet as we begin our Lenten discipline change is exactly what we seek – internal change. We decline that glass of wine, donut in the break room, or a piece of your best friend’s birthday cake, and when we do we look with anticipation at those around us to make sure we haven’t offended or hurt someone.

A simplistic example yes, but I think it makes the point. Now imagine the trepidation we have if the change we seek is major. We must be alert to the societal pressures that will weigh upon us as we begin to rid ourselves of the restraints on our heart. The converse is true as well. We must be careful not to second guess other’s attempts to break their chains.

Societal resistance to change is often the first hurdle we face on our forty day journey around the track. Jump over it, don’t let it become a barrier to progress.

 

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About the author

Webb Hubbell is the former Associate Attorney General of The United States. His novels, When Men Betray, Ginger Snaps, A Game of Inches, The Eighteenth Green, and The East End are published by Beaufort Books and are available online or at your local bookstore. When Men Betray won one of the IndieFab awards for best novel in 2014. Ginger Snaps and The Eighteenth Green won the IPPY Awards Gold Medal for best suspense/thriller. His latest, “Light of Day” will be on the bookstands soon.