What We Can and Cannot Fix

Politics, religion, education, science cannot fix everything that is broken.  As human beings, we are forced, squeezed, compelled to live everyday between the real and the ideal.  We know the way people and things should be.  But as we go about our business each day, we see, many times, the ideal and the real do not meet. 

Let’s be honest.  Some people can be fixed.  Others cannot.  Some things can be fixed.  Some things cannot.  Some organizations can be fixed.  Some cannot.  The old St. Francis prayer is right.  The key is having the wisdom to know what can be fixed and what cannot.  And the real key, the real difficulty is figuring out what is worth our time and what is not.

The scriptures can be of help here.  If you look at what has been called the ten commandments, you see that whoever wrote these lessons down believed it was possible to train people to act well.  Btw, the Bible never calls them commandments.  The Hebrew uses the word Davarim or words/things. Through these words, God is teaching us what can be fixed and what cannot.

Here is my take. 

1.       Material things are fine but not divine. Attach yourself to something with more lasting power and endurance.

2.       What is most important right now in your heart, there is your God. Should it be?

3.       Work on fixing things for six days and then take one day to stop fixing and rest.

4.       Be content with what you have.  Don’t pine after what someone else has. Also,  don’t cheat, lie or murder.

5.       The smallest fix can change the greatest problem.  Pay attention to the little things.  Fix the small things first.

6.       You can change a relationship by altering your own way of speaking or behaving in that relationship.  Do you need to be kinder, more caring or more aggressive; do you need to let go?

7.       Act with intention.  Say to yourself, “today I will intentionally act differently.”  Then, do it.

8.       Finally, give yourself some slack.  Everybody is entitled to 25 mistakes each day.  At the end of the day, look in the mirror, say, “I fixed what I could do today.”  Let go, and get some rest.

In case you are wondering, my sense is, whatever else God is about, God is a teacher, doing what God can do each day, sometimes in the smallest ways, to fix us and keep us sane.