Change Winner

...the help of man is worthless.
With God we will gain the victory.
Psalm 108: 12b-13a

Last night, we again had our annual end of the year family meeting. Since it was already January 7th, it truly no longer qualified as a year-end meeting but I’m glad we did it nonetheless. It’s a meeting where we write down one another’s positive and negative traits. We do it with the

intention to encourage ourselves on what we do well, and to mirror out ourselves so that we find out what we can change. We started by each of us writing what we liked best about Evan. Although we first did this activity ten years ago and had already established a way to go about it, we had to do it differently this year because we didn’t have our notes from the years before. It must have been left in one of our boxes in Chiang Mai. Except Evan since it was his turn, we individually wrote no more than three but at least one positive trait that each one liked about him. Then, we also wrote one trait that we thought he could focus on in changing for the New Year. He then read our positive and negative comments. After that, Eng affirmed Evan and prayed for him. The Lord was thanked for what Evan does well and then requests were made on his behalf to do better and change in the areas written.

When Evan's turn was done, we did the same thing all over again for Eli, Eng, me, Eric, and Ethan. We usually feel great after knowing what we do well. With regard to the negative trait, we often pray first to word it graciously. Thankfully, no one had been hurt in the ten years we’d done the activity. As I facilitate the whole process, I often would add that the intention is to let the other person know what he can change for the better. Often, the encouragement is to have the negative trait worked on as a resolution for the New Year. With the prayers offered, the hope is that the negative trait won’t be seen nor heard again in the following year and especially during the year-end's meeting.

The final thing we did was to vote on who changed the most last year (a new addition in the last five years). I thought an award would be an extra incentive to change. Sure enough, one of us kept saying he wanted to win! There's a $30.00 or 1,000.00 Baht (when we were in Thailand) award. The winner of who changed the most in 2011 was Evan; his second victory in the last five years.

I’d never won once. All the same, as my family told me what I can change, I hope to truly do so. May this year be the year I change so well that they'd actually notice. It’s not because of the award since the money comes from Eng and me anyway. It’s because I thrive on change. Winning would mean the changes in me were truly evident. And change is really good for all of us. As the Lord transforms us, it’s great for us to be purposeful in joining Him in the process. May all our resolutions and intentions to change in 2012 be fruitful for His glory.