John Gardner, a United States cabinet member under President Johnson, once pointed out that by their mid-thirties most people have stopped acquiring new skills and new attitudes in any aspect of their lives.
Does that jolt you? Stop and think, you who are over thirty. How long has it been since you acquired a new skill? How many new attitudes have you adopted? Are you compelled to approach a problem the same way every time? Does a wild idea ever challenge you or make you retreat into your shell? Have you lost the enthusiastic zest for discovery or adventure? Are you becoming addicted to predictability?
Understand that living and learning go hand in hand. Exisiting and expiring do as well. The constant curiosity and probing inquisitiveness of preschoolers make every day completely fresh and exciting. To them learning is natural. Yet to many adults it's a nuisance. Amazing. Utterly.
Now if you're saying to yourself, "Well, that's just the way I am; I can't change," then you are limiting God, discounting His power and denying His presence. He's offering you an abundant life and you're settling for a bland diet of tasteless existance. I'm not suggesting that you go out and do stupid stunts to prove your unpredictability. However, why not turn your everyday problems into creative projects? Why not take life by the throat and achieve mastery over a few things that have haunted and harassed you long enough?
Why not broaden yourself in some "new" way to the greater glory of God?
A remarkable story illustrates God's idea of adventure into the world of growing and learning. In Joshua 14, we meet an inspired zealot named Caleb. He was eighty-five years old and still growing when he grabbed the challenge of the future. At a time when the ease and comfort of retirement seemed predictable, Caleb fearlessly faced the "invincible" giants of the mountain.
Wanna know what grabs me about this story? There was no dust on this patriot of the Lord! Every new sunrise introduced another reminder that his body and a rocking chair weren't made for each other. While his peers were yawning, Caleb was yearning!
Here's the challenge for you to embrace: if you are determined and work quickly, you can keep the concrete of predictability from setting up around you. But if the risks of sailing your ship in the vast ocean of uncertainty make you seasick, you'd better stay near the shallow shores of security. Concrete sinks fast.
Try this: this week do something totally unpredictable, even if it's only taking a differrent route to work. A change of scenery could be just the change your outlook needs?! You'll never know until you try!