Change

"In ministry as in all of life, there is change. Those who are afraid to embrace change will reign over decay."

This was the opening statement that a pastor shared every night for a week long family camp sometime pre-2001. More than a decade later it has still stuck in my head, not sure many other sermons have in the same way. I would say that on the whole, I fall into the structure-preffered, consistency and routine, type A personality. I used to strongly dislike change. But then I chose the career path of higher education and since 2001 have been on a college campus where things are constantly changing. I still remember my graduate school course discussing organizational theory and Make it Happen asking which of us didn't like change- I raised my hand amongst a few others- and I think his response was something deep like 'you're going to have to get over that.'

Adding a lens to view my work as a growing, ever expanding learning process has allowed me to move from disliking change, to being ok with it happening around me, to actually initiating changes on my own accord. And guess what I've found? It's invigorating! It is a breath of fresh air to try something new that is out of the ordinary 'way it's always been done' model. This week my colleague and I had a two hour brainstorm meeting (something else I used to say that I disliked) about our upcoming fall orientation. It was so exciting to have the freedom to explore changes. As we hire on a new Director this summer I know that there are a lot of transitions still ahead of how our department will shake out. And I am actually excited for those new starts, fresh ideas, different perspectives. When did that happen? Excited by change.