The Christmas holiday, the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus, is this week. As with most holidays, there are many traditions associated with Christmas. These traditions can be religious, national, or family (personal) in nature.
Whenever someone tells me about a tradition they follow, I like to ask them why certain things are done. Many times, the answer is similar to the popular story about a young couple of newlyweds as the wife is preparing a pot roast for dinner. Before she puts the roast in the pan, she cuts an inch or so off each end of the meat. The husband is curious about this and asks his bride why she did that. “Does it make the roast taste better?” he asks. The wife explains that she isn’t sure why, but this is the way her mother always did it.
The following day, the young wife was visiting her mother and asked her why she cut the ends of the roast off before cooking it in the oven. Her mother explained that she didn’t know, but that’s what her mother always did, so she did it too. Wanting to get to the bottom of this tradition, she called her grandmother on the phone and explained the question to her. Her grandmother said, “That’s easy to answer. When your mother was a little girl, the only pot I had to cook a roast in was too small, so I always had to cut some of the meat off so it would fit.”
I believe it is always good to examine why I do the things I do. Some of the questions I ask myself are:
Am I doing something just because that’s the way I have always done it?
Do I know why it is done that way?
Am I doing something because change would be uncomfortable?
Is what I am doing the best use of my time and resources?
One of my favorite books, Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, is a wonderful parable that explores what life could be like if, instead of fearing what lies ahead, we could thrive in an environment of change and uncertainty. As a younger man, I feared change, but I recognized that this fear was holding me back. Once I realized that through prayer and faith I could see when God was nudging me to change—and that I should not be worried—great things happened. When I was obedient and walked through doors that He opened for me, I experienced growth and new opportunities.
I consider each time in my life that I accepted a change that took me in another direction to be a new chapter in my life. Just because God wanted me to make a particular change, it didn’t mean it was to be forever. Some of those changes were to prepare me for something He would want me to do later. Others were to serve a temporary purpose. Whatever they were, I consider the end of each chapter in my life a success. I never quit something I was supposed to do earlier because it failed, but because that purpose was complete and there was something new to do.
Stand by for the next chapter!
Norwalk IA Real Estate –
Jon Niemeyer, Broker/Owner/REALTOR® at EXIT Realty North Star. I list and sell real estate in Central Iowa including Norwalk, Des Moines, West Des Moines, Cumming, Indianola, Carlisle, Waukee, Urbandale, Grimes, Clive, Johnston, Ankeny, Altoona, and Pleasant Hill in the Counties of Warren, Polk, Dallas, and Madison. Call
Jon Niemeyer at
515-490-4675.