Levels of Flexibility

By Erin Miller, Team #11

For me, being flexible is very important. I didn’t realize it until recently but I am constantly needing to be flexible. I am not talking about when you exercise. I am talking about when your plans change without warning and you have roll with it. Whether it means fixing something for dinner at the last minute or changing plans most of the day, due to a change in weather–all types of flexibility are important and the better you are with change, the better you will be with spur of the moment kind of things. It is just part of being flexible. 

I know different people react differently in their ability to be flexible. The first kind of person is the one who is really flexible. They are quick thinkers who are able to react within the first few seconds they are faced with a change and know exactly what they are going to do to fix it. You know, the people who have plans for everything, who have every second of every day scheduled. And they have backups in case of emergency. And some have backups for those backups. They are always prepared. And are ready to be flexible at any moment. They know what the weatherman says is supposed to happen. And they are able to change plans accordingly very quickly.  This is what I really want to be able to do.

The second kind of person is the one who adjusts to it. They do not mind changes and being flexible, but they take a while to find alternate plans. They can do anything they are faced with and do it efficiently, whether they want to change their plans or not. When they know they need to, they get right on it. I fit into this category. I know when I need to change plans, of any sort, and I do my best. And I am able to roll with changes, even if I do not like it. I have not had to change any major plans yet, but, during the internship, I do have to follow my schedule and, when it is changed, that is when I have to roll with the punches. 

The third kind of people are the ones who do not like change at all and refuse to try anything different than what they had planned. They might change the day that it happens, but they really do not want their schedule changed. If they have a plan, they will not change it. And most of the time they do not have a plan at all. They do things as they need to be done. They do not like planning things so, when it happens, nothing is going to change the events for that day, in their eyes. What they do is important down to the last thing. And they plan on doing it. I have never been this kind of person. I have always been the second. And really want to be the first.

Things will always change; it is a part of life. And people will always have to change their plans,  at least once in their life. But the more you are faced with the challenge of needing to do it, the better you will be at it and the easier it will be to be a person in the first category. I know that the world will never be full of those types of people, and it should not be. But we should try to be more flexible. Even if it is changing just a little bit, it is still a step in the right direction. So, if you have no problem stepping out of your comfort zone, then this will not be too hard for you. Being flexible is not always something that people are born with; it takes practice. To become a  better person you must want to change and start working on the change. 

Things that I have had to do within the limits of being flexible are not that complicated. It was a simple change in my schedule, such as mission Monday, small group, or seeing a movie, etc. I have done all of these plenty of times. And I had not really thought about what it was I was doing until after the change already happened. I would really like to know what I am doing, as I do it. I have to take a step back and think about it. It is all part of being flexible and I had never thought about it until I got to this internship and learned it was one of our core values. It made me think of so many things that have happened but I had never really thought about how flexibility played a part in my life. And this one of the five core values that we have is the one that I think about most often. It is important to me and is the easiest for me. And it took me a while to realize that not everyone is the same way. So that made me think about flexibility and others in a new perspective. 

So, I learned that changing your plans and being able to go with what the Lord puts in front of you has a certain name: Flexibility. Flexibility is not given to everyone and all people are different in the way they handle it; whether it is facing it head on or taking their time with it or those who avoid it all together. All of them face having to be flexible, no matter how they deal with it. We all are different and show it. No one will ever be the same and that is okay. I have also learned it is important to help others who are not as good at it. If they do not do well with being flexible, having someone there who can help with it is really important to them and can go a long way in their eyes. 

To learn more about the internship program visit our website: https://www.childrensbibleministries.net/internships

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