Smelly Stuff

If you really change your ways and your actions… (Jeremiah 7:5a NIV)

There was an ill-smelling, sour odor that had permeated the bedroom for several days. I started blaming the innocent dog and then the guiltless cat, surmising that one of them had left something rank hidden under the bed. When that didn’t pan out, I closed the closet door considering the tennis shoes as the culprit.  Still the odor lingered.  I tried a carpet odor eliminator, a fruit-smelling air freshener and even the burning fragrance of a cookie candle. Still it wouldn’t extinguish the rancid smell that now consumed the room.

Finally, I remembered the small college style refridgerator under the counter where I keep my cream for morning coffee.  I had just purchased a half of a gallon of cream and the carton filled weightless. When I picked up the refrigerator, I discovered the perpetrator: globs of coagulated milk that had leaked on the counter base and under coffee cans…stinky!

Do you ever feel like things in your life just don’t smell right? You know adjustments and changes need to occur, but identifying the culprit may take some real soul sniffing. Somehow when you reach the age of 50, it seems that change gets much harder to address.  I have spent the last 25 years on the full-time job of raising five children. My youngest two are a junior and senior in high school and will soon be moving to new places in their lives. They clearly don’t need me in the ways they did when they were much younger. Our businesses are changing and my life seems to be in a state of transition. Like the bad smell in the bedroom, I know I’ve got to approach those needed changes.  Leo Buscaglia says, Change is the end result of all true learning and involves three things…

First, dissatisfaction with self - a felt void or need (something smells bad)

Second, a decision to change to fill the void (I’m going to find that smell and change things by cleaning it up)

Third, a conscious dedication to the process of growth and change - the willful act of making the change, doing something (I am cleaning up the mess and will not leave the carton of cream on its side again. Then, I am going to move forward in an effort to transform).

 Dear God, I have experience spilt milk and plenty of messes in the first half of my life. Please help me identify the areas I need to change so I may better serve you in this second half.

Michele