Due to the recent hot September, autumn seems reduced in scope. Halloween is less than two weeks away. Thanksgiving is drawing close. Time is a bit funny in its proclivity to seem far away and then on top of you. The rapidity of time is unpredictable yet the reality is real. Discussion of Christmas gifts is no longer an academic matter. Talk now or be caught short when the big day arrives. This is life and goals. We speak of desired change…when it comes we say…what is this. Change requires active participation. We want it and hope it will fall on us from Heaven…even then we may shrug our shoulders and ask who ordered this.

I remember wanting to advance at University. When the opportunity to do so came the change desired was greater than I had envisioned. I was fearful of the management position. Was I up to the task? A colleague told me that he would rather be dead than take the job that no one had succeeded at. Another advisor said that I had at least 25 years to work in the stressful position. So I overcame my fears of failure and accepted the first management position and ultimately the head of the department for the last 12 years of my career.

Change comes disguised as potential failure…until it is embraced. Then the hope of time comes to rest with your decision. Challenge is not for the faint of heart. The caterpillar did not know he was destined to become a butterfly.