One of the great benefits of being human is our capacity for rational thought.  We can observe, think, analyze and change if we want to.  Although most people change slowly, it is possible. Trees on the other hand are stuck right where they are.  If storms or fires are coming, there is nothing a tree can do but endure.  But we are not trees.

People change all the time. A young person with no knowledge of engineering goes to school and after a few years, they graduate as an engineer. Another person chooses psychology and learns how people think and how to help them. Another person decides to be a plumber and does what it takes to learn and to get a contractor’s license.

Animals other than humans live mostly according to built-in instinct. Ducks fly south in the winter, bears hibernate and salmon return to their birthplace to lay eggs. As people, we can step back and change any part of our lives that are in disarray and come up with a new plan. Only humans can do that.  Even people of only body and soul can change the course of their lives. With Christ in us, we can do even more.

If you don’t like how your life has been going, you can tear up the script and write a new one. Sigmund Freud said that we cannot change. He taught we are the products of our genetic code, and we are the products of our parents and our environment. Many say of other people in poor circumstances that it is not their fault, it is how they were raised. But these things are lies. God asks us to renew our minds, and many people in God’s Word made some drastic changes in their thinking patterns such as the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus and David after he was confronted by Nathan the prophet.

God’s Word gives us the underlying principles that govern a prosperous life in so many areas. Others having successfully incorporated those principles into their lives have written books and teach courses on how they accomplished what they were seeking. By reading their books and taking their courses, we can take a shortcut to accomplish the same thing. Instead of making all of the mistakes and having the frustrations that comes with changing, we can shortcut that by learning from others.

In Ephesians, God tells us to not let the sun go down on our wrath, yet many people find getting rid of anger hard to do.  So, they take courses in anger management to learn how not to become so angry. Take a course to learn how to do what God asks us to, what a unique thought.  How about a course or book on marriage or handling finances, or forgiveness?

Many people come from families that hold grudges against even their own family members — mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and even exes. If you grew up this way, it may take some work learning how to change your thinking patterns.

God says not to be drunk with wine wherein is excess, so some people join Alcoholics Anonymous to learn from previous addicts the shortcuts to go from being addicts to being sober. A shortcut is not cheating. It means learning from other people’s mistakes so that we don’t have to repeat them in our search for deliverance.

People join Toastmasters and become public speakers. (Some people fear public speaking more than death.) But after they have faced the fear, risen up and opened their mouths hundreds of times, the fear goes away. They have changed.

But if you will notice, all of the changes I just listed were changes that occurred inside the person. A person does not change because of his surroundings, circumstances or his appearance. You cannot go to the beauty parlor or The Gap and come out a new person.  What is inside is still the same only the outside looks different.

You cannot change by moving to a new city or state.  As Emerson said, “We carry our Goliaths with us.”
When you change the way you think, the way you believe or the focus of your life in a certain area, then your outer world can begin to change.

I read years ago that some family lines continually produce preachers, nurses and teachers — those concerned with helping others. Other family lines constantly have members in jail, are thieves or prostitutes.  These are learned behaviors and are passed from parents and relatives to young children. Children grow up being exposed to certain mindsets — good or bad.

I met a lady that lived in the country northwest of where I live, and she worked as a highway patrol trooper.  I asked her where she was originally from because of her nonlocal accent.  Her family was in another state.  She said she moved here when she had children because she did not want them raised around her relatives.  She did not want them to grow up and be acquainted with their lifestyle.  She said those negative traits in her family were stopping with her.

I don’t know what traits, habits, or mindsets her family had that she did not want her children to grow up with. In the movie, Hell or High Water, at the end, the main character said, “Poverty is a disease that is handed down from one generation to the next.” It also reminded me of President Harry S. Truman who had a sign on his desk that said, “The buck stops here.”

If like the lady, you have negative family traits, you can decide that they stop with you. If your family has high divorce rates, you can learn together how to stay married. If your family has a problem with forgiveness, that can end with you. If your family has a problem with handling money, you can teach your offspring how to prosper. We have the ability to change any part of our lives we want to, but it may take some work.

You can’t have a strong family if you merely talk about building a better relationship with your spouse and kids. Take some courses, read some books and learn from the shortcuts of other people. Make a plan, and put it into action. You have to get out of your comfort zone. You have to step up and do the work.

Excerpts from Change Begins with Choice by Jim Rohn

1.    Any day we wish, we can discipline ourselves to change it all.
2.    Any day we wish, we can open the book that will open our minds to new knowledge.
3.    Any day we wish, we can start a new activity.
4.    Any day we wish, we can start the process of life change. We can do it immediately, or next week, or next month, or next year.

We can also do nothing. We can pretend rather than perform.
And if the idea of having to change ourselves makes us uncomfortable, we can remain as we are. We can choose rest over labor, entertainment over education, delusion over truth, and doubt over confidence. The choices are ours to make.
As Shakespeare uniquely observed, “The fault is not in the stars, but in ourselves.” We created our circumstances by our past choices. We have both the ability and the responsibility to make better choices beginning today.
And if I may be so bold to offer my last piece of advice for someone seeking and needing to make changes in their life: If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree. You have the ability to totally transform every area in your life. And it all begins with your very own power of choice.

“Our dilemma is that we hate change, but we love it at the same time.
What we want is for things to remain the same but to get better.” –Sidney Harris

No one can change your life for you.  They can only open the door. They can show the way. God can light the path, but we have to walk through the door and follow the path for ourselves.

So in our quest for The Prosperous Life in the area of money, take a course, listen to podcasts, read some books, formulate a plan, and get started.  It is never too late. Along the way, you may find you need to change your plan in ways you never thought of in the beginning. Our Father will be with you lighting your path all along the way. Eventually, you may be able to help others with the process of change in the area that they struggle in. Remember, You Are Not A Tree.  You can change any area of your life that needs it.  This is all part of living The Prosperous Life.

The Winds
One ship drives east and another drives west
With the selfsame winds that blow,
‘Tis the set of the sails and not the gales
Which tells us the way to go

Like the winds of the sea, are the ways of men
As we voyage along through life
“Tis the set of the soul that decides its goal
And not the calm or the strife.

–Ella Wheeler Wilcox