A Wise Man Changes His Mind

I grew up hearing, "A wise man (or woman) changes his mind, but a fool, never." I can't begin to count the times I've heard it - and now say it - to my own children.

These are true - and very biblical words. A wise man does change his mind. In fact, the Greek word for repentance is 'metanoia' which means a change of mind. When we repent we change the way we've been thinking - about our desires and actions and motivations. This change of mind leads to life - the abundant kind of life that Jesus came to open to us.

My mom recently changed her mind. She has been in declining health for a number of years. She's not been feeling or looking well recently as a result of her kidney failure. Mom's an RN. Old school. She's seen lots of patients in kidney failure. She's witnessed many folks on dialysis, and decided - in advance- that it wasn't for her - no way, no how.

My brother in law is Mom's Nephrologist. Earlier this week he had my sister Jean call to say that dialysis NOW is a matter of life and death for Mom. After some talking and pondering Mom chose to give it a whirl, even though it required an admission to the hospital (something she vehemently opposed at Christmas time).

Mom chose life. She's feeling better too, and looking alive. There's color back in cheeks that prior to dialysis had a gray pallor - the color of death. A wise woman does change her mind. Dialysis isn't so bad. A good cleaning of the blood can do wonders for a person.

Along with the dialysis there's a diet to be followed - the renal diet. It's pretty restrictive. Basically a patient can comply with it or jeopardize their health. There are foods for her to avoid all together and some foods she needs more of to ensure she stays healthy. She'll be taking a special vitamin that has no potassium at all (bad for someone in renal failure) but concentrations of folate (and something else I can't remember) that dialysis tends to remove.

I don't want to push the analogy too far, but it's irresistible for me to make a connection to life in Christ... From the beginning the Bible makes it clear that there are two choices - life or death. Choosing life always requires a change of mind. How often? If you're like me - daily! Every day I'm given the opportunity to choose abundant life or a living death. I can choose to be cleaned up (by the blood of Christ- sorry I can't help myself with this analogy!) or not. I choose life. I choose to be surprised again and again by the grace of God.

There's a diet for me to follow too. It involves avoiding somethings all together and focusing on others. It's pretty obvious what I mean here...

Choosing life means a change of mind. Every day.