Let's Start a REVOLUTION! Revolutionize....

Well, well, we meet again on the Front Porch…rain is moving in later today and suppose to RAIN for the next 48 hours or so…expecting anywhere from 2 up to 5 inches of rain.  Here on the farm rain is good news! Bad news! We desperately need rain, the pond has been dry since summer…poor ducks swimming in teeny tiny tubs...pitiful…BUT with that glorious rain comes oozing, goozing, swishing, sloshing, suck your boot right off your foot mud…the barnyard becomes a big swamp, much like stepping in quicksand…it is a tenacious chore trying to feed the animals…but rain must come…so thank you Lord for the rain. So the dry hard ground gives way to the rain and becomes slushy, gushy mud that each step requires great effort.   This necessary change for the greater good…Change…This Transformation (not our word for today) that must happen to the barnyard…the revolution.

Well, the new word, the new discussion, is an interesting word, thus, hopefully an interesting discussion; the word REVOLUTIONIZE. So what comes to mind when you hear that word?

Well, the root word is revolt; meaning to oppose, refuse, break away.  Anything come to mind yet?

 

 How about the Revolutionary War? This was the war that inspired brave leaders such as George Washington to stand up to England because the tensions between Great Britain and the colonists became so great. The colonists did not want to follow the rules from Great Britain 3000 miles away. They did not want to pay taxes to Great Britain. All their hard work and seemed to mean nothing.  They had no say in matters and got not benefits .Hmmm…there is a grass roots effort here in Texas to try to make Texas its own country…Interesting…but some of the same issues…hundreds of years later.

During the American Revolution It seemed that the very reason they had come to the New Land meant nothing.  No freedom, no say.  They changed addresses but the tyranny, taxation and threat of punishment hung over them. Thus, the result ”enough is enough’!  This getting fed up with a situation, the ‘straw that breaks the camel’s back’ situation usually precedes a revolution.  Revolt: a breaking away, a breaking of the rules, a refusal to pay taxes.  What was the change, the reform, the refashioning that came about?  Many things.  Why, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, freedom for the USA and the birth of the greatest nation on the face of the earth, just to name a few! This revolution inspired men such as Patrick Henry who stood and proclaimed…”Give me liberty or give me death”! Revolutionize indeed!

 Or how about the French Revolution? People were destitute.  A terrible famine in the land and absolute apathy by the King and His Royal Court. Conditions became so desperate that there was little or no bread. The famine was so severe that over 50% of their wages went to buy bread-if any could be found.  Bread-the staff of life.  . It is believed that the phrase "Let them eat cake" was uttered by Marie Antoinette, wife of King Louis XVI of France during this famine in France. Talk about someone ‘out of touch’, losing sense of reality’. Callous, uncaring, cruel.  She and the King living in finery, while the common folk suffering and dying. Enough is enough...therefore there was a revolt, a revolution to overthrow, and not only overthrow but destroy the uncaring monarchs.  The people had had enough of the luxurious privileged living. Change…Revolutionize….

Well, what about the Industrial Revolution? If you watched any of the Opening or Closing ceremonies of the Olympics last year, you saw some of the changes portrayed through song, dance and acting.    The revolt, the breaking away from the old way of producing goods.  That revolt, that revolution was a series of complex radical socioeconomic changes; changes that took place in England in the late 18th century.  Fundamental changes that happened when goods were no longer produced in home-based hand manufacturing to large-scale factory production  change to accommodate a growing population and demand for more goods. It was necessary to REVOLUTIONIZE!...  CHANGE.  This opened up inventions and revolutions in every walk of life. 

Other revolutions, include, but are not limited to: revolution in war time brought about by airplanes, Renaissance brought about by European Art and Thought, and the light bulb and what about the musical revolution brought about by the Beatles?  One of their hit songs had that name: Revolution. Change, breaking away, a refusal to have things going along in the same ‘ho hum’ ho hum’ ho hum; instead stepping out, breaking away, a new day, a new way to live.

In each of the major revolutions mentioned, the change resulted in pain, loss, great effort, a great cost. No pain, no gain.  Here in America, bloodshed, hunger, frostbite for many of the young men fighting against England.  The monarchy of France suffered and little Antoinette was beheaded…ouch...the Industrial Revolution meant that those who sold horses, made carriage, buggies, the harness, reins, whips needed for that mode of transportation lost their livelihood. No more little cottage business…but the revolution resulted in great smoking, belching factories that mass produced goods. A new of life. Good news, bad news. More of the good news, bad news.

 

What does any of this have to do with Lifestyle Living?      Hmmm, well as I see it,we have our own ‘defining moments’ when we encounter an opportunity to embrace or expel change: a personal revolution. I find for most of us change does not come easy.  Change is something we tend to avoid as if it were a plague.  WHY?  Change, revolt, a revolution requires a lot of us.  It is costly, it is time-consuming, it can be painful, and it requires a lot of energy.  Remember we just talked about energize and synergize.  Both necessary for effective, long term change.  Change...we resist it, we avoid it, we are afraid of it.

 

But, if we can find the courage and strength to embrace, and envelop and change, the results will be worth it!

Don’t like the weight gain hat has snuck up on you? Revolutionize.  Don’t like your job, where you live, how people treat you, take advantage of you, how you cave in to sin and self?  Start a revolution in your life..

 

One step, one thought, one action, one task at a time….

 

So on this morning as we close out our time on the Front Porch going to leave you with a quote.

 

You can change your story anytime you like. Just start a new chapter and begin again. It's your story.

~Dorothy Mendoza Row♥

Revolutionize Your life, Your Story…

Until tomorrow…….