Cycles

When one reflects on the number of times a cycle repeats in our lives, the conclusion will use words like ironic, sad, and oh so predictable.  The patterns may be good or bad, common or eclectic, traditional or ground breaking.  The pattern may not be understood, but it does repeat.  I find myself in patterns of behavior and choices celebrating their umpteenth anniversary while I still deny their birth! 
 
Yesterday I asked a friend what was going to trigger a change in his cycle of behavior.  There was clear desire.  There was no reason to question his desire to change.  He recognized the problems inherent in the current pattern, understood the need for changed, and gave the right lip-service, yet I found myself openly challenging him about what was going to happen next.  He says he is looking for an “event” yet I don’t think the event will be the driver of change.  Why or how would it? 
 
I recently found myself in a confrontation with a team.  In the midst of the discussion I openly asked them about their willingness and ability to break the pattern they had adopted.  I observed that the pattern had shown itself to be incredibly consistent over the past twelve months.  So was going to cause them to change now?  They argued strongly that this wasn’t the case.  If it was merely rhetoric then I might agree, however the well entrenched pattern of behavior continues.
 
In a story of old Jesus confronted those who were caught in a pattern so strong it had become a culture with tradition and history.  In that context his words of exposure might seem redundant but the people he was talking to were blind to the insight.  “I'm talking about things I have seen while keeping company with the Father, and you just go on doing what you have heard from your father.”  (John 8.38) 
 
Today is a step in affirming a new pattern; one of compassion, mercy, and active engagement.  I haven’t completely left my old patterns; God willing we are creating new ones.