Ed, my old neighbour in Saskatchewan, was disgusted with the slippery surface of the turf for this year’s Grey Cup Game at the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton. He had a twenty-dollar bet that the Redblacks would win the game, but he did not expect his team would be playing on ice. He was sure that everyone was cheated out of a great football game because both teams lacked traction on the icy field. Ed said that the players changed cleats several times, but they really needed to have skates.
Ed felt that it was time for the Canadian Football League to change their season so that the Grey Cup Game would be played the last Sunday in October not November. Everyone could handle football beginning a month earlier. I thought that Ed had a great idea. October weather could be less of an interference with the game. Changing the start and the end of the football season will not come quickly.
I have found that what I thought would be a change for the better has been rejected by others as a terrible idea. Often, we change because circumstances force us to do so. Abram changed because God told him to leave his country, his people, and his father’s house and go to a land God would show him. Abram left as God told him to do, and he took with him his wife Sarai, and his nephew Lot. Abram took with him all his possessions and livestock.
Abram traveled to the land of Canaan, and as he moved and lived in Canaan, he became rich in livestock. Lot his nephew also became rich with his herds and flocks. Quarreling among Lot and Abram’s herdsmen over pasture and water for all the livestock resulted.
Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine for we are kinsmen. Is not the whole land before you? Let us part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.” Lot picked the rich, fertile, plain of the Jordan and went and lived near Sodom. Abram stayed in Canaan living near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron.
Lot was open to change because he had the first choice or the first pick of where he could go with his herds. Lot could see that he had a lot to gain by parting company with his uncle. People are most open to change if it seems the change will be better for them.
When we change, it is said to be a miracle for it means our thinking has changed. Many times, it is impossible to get us to change our minds. We talk about changing but often that is where our changing ends.
As Christmas Day draws near it is easy to slip into our traditional way of dealing with our religious observances, family holiday meals, and gift giving. Who will see this Christmas as an opportunity to change their mind and actions for the better? Who will seek peace and goodwill towards all others as they never have before? Will it be you?
