Unredeemable?

Lately, I find myself haunted by the notion of change. Is true change really possible? I mean, in the average person? What is the magic recipe that produces change – other than the life-threatening diagnosis, when change may be too late? I remember growing up with Bible stories of Paul, who wrote of the desire to do what’s right, but the struggle to achieve that change on a consistent basis. In Romans chapter 7, Paul shares his internal battle that sounds very similar to my own struggles: “For I do not understand my own actions…. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out” (ESV Bible).

Even television mocks the idea of change. In season 7 episode 12 of The Big Bang Theory (Warner Bros.), Sheldon attempts to learn how to be humorous and starts off by trying to make up jokes that oppose what is true. Referring to Howard’s mom, Sheldon says, “Howard’s mom is so fat, she decided to go on a diet, or exercise, or both, hehahe.” He then explains that the twist that makes that a so-called joke is that “people don’t usually change.” Yes, it’s just a television show, but there is some basis in reality behind those words. True change is difficult. I know.

I know because I’ve been trying to change myself for several months – coming up on a year in February. My parents and grandparents have had every health issue from addictions to cancers to high blood pressure to diabetes and heart disease. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist – or a physicist – to know that it would be smart for me to make healthy changes like regular exercise and better eating habits. (Paying for a gym membership doesn’t quite cut it if you don’t actually go to the gym!) I even started seeing a nutritionist last February. We set goals and met every few weeks, with little to no progress on those goals. WHY?

I’ve told my nutritionist about the health issues in my family’s history and that I want to change my ways before I fall victim to some of those same diseases. I know what I need to do. She’s given me tools to work with…. But here I am, still fairly sedentary in my ways. WHY? Why can’t I do the “right” things that I know would be better for me? I asked her this very question, “why?”, but she had no answer. She simply agreed that change is hard.

I recently watched a new Christmas movie called Spirited (Apple TV) with Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds. (Yes, it’s a musical, but I still watched/enjoyed it.) It is a refreshing new take on the old Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol, where the ghostly haunts from Christmases past, present and future are an annual production, much like an extravagantly produced play. The Spirits select a new “Perp” every January, and then spend the rest of the year researching the Perp’s history and life, seeking to discover the best way to haunt/help this person change his or her ways for the better.

The Ghost of Christmas Present (GC Present), played by Will Ferrell, is internally tormented with whether or not what he is doing is “enough.” When selecting a perp, his big question revolves around the idea: will the change produced in this Perp have enough ripple-effect to go farther than that one person’s life? He believes he finds “the” person, Clint (played by Ryan Reynolds), who is capable of producing stunning ripple-effect change, but he’s been declared an “unredeemable,” and helping him is strongly discouraged by Marley, the Spirit-in-charge. Still the Spirits, led by the determination of the GC Present, work to accomplish the impossible.

Ultimately the GC Present recognizes his fear of his own unredeemability, and the tables turn when the Perp rejects and even runs from the ghosts trying to haunt and help him change. The message falls back to the fact that maybe permanent change isn’t as likely to happen as one hopes, but simply having the sincere desire to change means that you don’t give up. If you fall off the wagon, you get back up and try again. It’s much like the lesson from Paul’s story in the Bible. You keep trying. There’s no magic potion to make anything better or to make change permanent or easy. But it does happen. I believe change can happen, even though I’m still waiting for significant results in my own life.

Perhaps that is why the struggle of change is discussed and repeated in so many genres. People need to constantly be reminded that even though change feels impossible, we are not unredeemable – as long as we don’t give up!