I am in the midst of changing our routine – most changes will take affect as of January but I am working towards them now.

I am planning to start at 8.30 with our Discipleship studies (Devotions, Bible and Character) have a quick morning tea before going onto our Discipline studies till lunchtime.  After lunch and chores we will all work on our Discussion studies (General Knowledge studies) for one hour and then one hour on our projects (Discretionary studies).  At this point it is 3.30 and everyone does different things with the rest of their afternoon.  The older children are getting less and less free time during the day and we are going to have to look at extending their evenings before bedtime.

This morning I discussed these changes with one of my children and they were full of reasons why they preferred our old routine.  They preferred to have their Discussion time before lunch because they like the atmosphere and the motivation of lunch coming up!  

I quickly realised what was really going on was that this particular child don’t “do change” very well – never has!  I discussed this with them, acknowledging that this is a part of their personality and that was okay but… change happens and therefore they have to find a way to deal with it.  I gave strategies such as knowing themselves, knowing their feelings towards change and being able to recognise their feelings for what they are.  Then comes the character part – Flexibility.  I have suggested they read the relevant parts in “Power of True Success”. 

Flexibility is not attaching my affections on plans and places that could be changed by my authorities.

The I will statements from Character First are:

I will not get upset when plans change

I will respect the decisions of my authorities

I will not be stubborn

I will look for the good in changes

I will not compromise what is right.

Applying some of these commitments to this situation requires a level of commitment to a correct response plus a large dose of self-control.  I am particularly thinking of “not getting upset” and “not being stubborn”.  The proactive thing to do, of course, is to “look for the good”.

The opposite of Flexible is to be Resistant.  An example can be drawn from a palm tree – it will bend when the “winds of change” come.  A resistant tree, such as a gum tree, or a boab tree (to make this geographically correct) will be blown over or uprooted.

The outworking of a person being flexible is that they don’t raise questions towards their authority when change is announced.  Your emotions and your face are quickly rearranged to show support.  You can quickly find the good and therefore show initiative quickly in this new direction.