Who Moved My Cheese?

Cheese is whatever brings fulfillment to our lives.  Cheese is finding our place and utilizing our gifts for productive living.

• Having cheese makes us happy.

We tend to lose our personal identity in whatever positions we hold.  Mistaking our position (cheese) causes us to become possessive and protective of it.  We forget that “one’s life does not consist in the adundance of the things he possesses.”  (Luke 12:15)  The more important cheese is to us, the more we try to hold on to it.  We begin trying to preserve the past, but the only things which can successfully be preserved are dead.  Some people would rather die than change, and they usually do.  If we don’t change we’ll become extinct.  Change is inevitable, and it’s impossible to stop.  It’s a mistake to think we can continue to be successful by repeating the past.

• Monito change.

Smelling the cheese often helps us know when it’s getting old.  What would we do, if we weren’t afraid.  “He who doubts is condemned… for whatever is not of faith is sin.”  (Romans 14:23)  The fear of making mistakes paralyzes our faith and causes us to miss good opportunities for making positive change.  Life is an adventure!  We should anticipate change by observing the signals taking place around us.  “We spend our years as a tale that is told.”  (Psalm 90:9)  When we move beyond our fears, we’re set free.  Fear robs us of God’s promises and makes us its slave.  “God has not given us a spirit of fear.”  (2 Timothy 1:7)  Fear destroys the future before it arrives.

• Anticipate change.

Get ready for the cheese to move.  Good leaders are always looking for ways to make improvements.  They’re move concerned with stagnation than making mistakes.  Life is a school from which they will never graduate.  Imagining ourselves enjoying new cheese even before we find it helps lead us to it.  We need a sanctified imagination which allows the Holy Spirit to give us happy, faith-filled thoughts.  We can find cheese in the most unlikely places.  “For I know the thought that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”  ((Jeremiah 26:11)  “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things.”  (Philippines 4:8)

• Adapt to change quickly.

The more quickly we let go of the old cheese, the more quickly we can enjoy the new cheese.  Good often becomes the enemy of the Best!  A good past can destroy a better future.  The harder we try to hold on to the past, the more difficult it becomes for us to move into the future.  Life usually moves on small wheels, but there are continual signs of change taking place around us.  Good leaders learn to read the signals and make the necessary adjustments to reach a productive future.  Noticing small changes early helps us adapt to the bigger changes which are coming.  By making small, successful steps, we grow the confidence to prepare us for tomorrow’s opportunities.

• Move with the cheese.

It’s a mistake for a leader to simply watch and see if things will improve.  By doing nothing we’re actually creating greater problems.  Leaders must continually be searching for new ideas to create a positive atmosphere for good things to happen.  Old ideas won’t lead to new cheese.  We must not allow our minds to grow old and isolate ourselves from our changing world.  

Methods are many, Principles are few.  Principles never change, Methods always do.

• Enjoying change.

Savor the adventure and enjoy the taste of new cheese.  The two things which usually produce change are Pain or Promise.  It is well said that we will change when the pain of remaining the same becomes greater than the pain of changing.  It’s better to be led by promises of a better tomorrow than to be forced to change by the pain caused from remaining the same.  

Change Happens!  They keep moving the cheese.