25: Making Change
I might be the only Religious of the Sacred Heart who was Employee of the Year at KMart — I made a lot of change at that cash register. KMart did a lot of things for me — the Assistant Managers saw something in me that my High School did not. When I was told that I was likely not college material, they saw otherwise. And one of the sentences in that recommendation cited my speed and accuracy in making change and being a change-maker. I learned a lot at KMart…and making that change paid for a good portion of my high school, college and graduate school tuition.
At the time, I thought being a change-maker had to do with the quick mental calculation between what was given and what was returned. But, life has taught me that making change gets harder as the years increase. Like the fast snow we had this week that left me following the ruts of the tires of the car before me, I follow the pathway of the patterns I have created. Some significant and some insignificant. But, making change has become more difficult.
It’s Lent: Making Change
I love big change that transforms systems and creates challenge. I am not such a great fan of small change. Time and life have taught me that big change is the result of small changes repeated over time. Like the success or failure that is the logical conclusion of the next right choice, change takes time. Eating breakfast before the coffee. Moving the step counter to my right wrist instead of the left. Putting the car keys in the left pocket instead of the right. Getting gas before it is a crisis. Answering the email that I don’t want to open. Eating the vegetables last like dessert instead of first to get them over with. Listening without deciding that I don’t agree before the person speaks. Watching the commercial instead of flipping to the opposite basketball game. Speaking when it would be just easier to let it go. Stepping on the treadmill instead of letting the knowledge of what it will take to get back to where I was stop me. Believing that one small action of change matters.
It’s really simple — it’s just about making change. I didn’t think it would open doors for me — I just thought standing at that cash register would help my parents pay for my high school tuition — it was just about making change. It still is.
Authors Note: When you send a post and schedule it to be delivered…it’s always good to hit “publish” — I have a couple extra “change-makers” that have been sitting in cyber-space, so it’s not that I can’t count…only ‘user error’ that needs to change…