The University of Tennessee’s student center was old when I went to school there. And I’m old. Soon, it will be torn down and replaced with a new one that is bigger and better.
I love the old UT student center. It’s comfortable. It’s tradition. Part of me hates to see it go. But I know it’s time. Time to replace the old with new.
How many things in your life do you keep around only because they are “comfortable” (you may NOT say, “My spouse!). When we were kids we used to build something and tear it down. Tinker Toys. Blocks. You name it. Construct and then destruct. Why? Because it was fun to build things. It’s plain and simple as that. But as we get older, we add obligations. Lots of obligations. It becomes riskier to start over. What was once fun becomes scary. Very scary. You can’t quit a job because you have kids and need the health insurance (even if they job totally sucks and is draining the life out of you.) You get to the point where experimentation becomes too frightening. It’s death by standing still.
Tearing down to rebuild. It completely thrusts us outside of our comfort zone and into a place where success is possible. So today’s prayer is this simple: Give me the vision to know what needs to be torn down, the courage to do it and the strength to rebuild it. Amen.
For 10 years I was the music lady at our church’s VBS. Two years ago, the director made a change and did away with the music rotation. I was at a loss. I was asked to help with the new area that was added that year: a science lab. I ended up practically taking it over that year, and this year I became the Mad Science Lady. As much as I liked music, I have now identified with Science. And because of that change, we’re able to take the science lab to our local elementary school and show them some really cool stuff.
All because she wasn’t afraid to change ‘the way we’ve always done it.’
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