Thermometer or Thermostat?
People don’t believe me when I say that I can’t catch COVID-19. It’s not that I am immune, it’s just that I was never chasing it in the first place. Notwithstanding, last week COVID-19 eventually caught me. I am fine now (I think) but when the fever hit, I could feel it in my bones. Shivering, I bundled up beneath six blankets until at last I felt light-headed. Something was definitely not right. I reached for the thermometer and sure enough my fever was 106.6F. I called out to my wife, “I don’t feel right.” She double checked the thermometer and jumped into action, immediately pulling the blankets off. She reached for the thermostat, lowering the temperature in the room in an attempt to save my life.
While the thermometer reflected the temperature the thermostat changed the temperature. Most people are thermometers of life, passively reflecting their surroundings and circumstances while others actively seek to change their surroundings and circumstances.
In Hawaii it is not uncommon for homes to be without a thermostat. The weather is comfortable year-round and there is little need for heated or air-conditioned homes. In other areas of the world, by contrast, life simply cannot be sustained without some form of climate control.
As long as people are comfortable (socially, emotionally, spiritually), they will almost always choose to be thermometers of life. When discomfort is forced upon them by circumstance, however, they reach for a thermostat, some way to change their level of felt discomfort, only to come up empty. Inevitably, they discover they are unable to do much about their discomfort because they have not installed a thermostat by actively seeking discomfort prior to their current crisis. Therein lies the difference, when life forces discomfort upon us, many become broken. Precious few actively pursue a life of discipline and discomfort. These enlightened ones not only change their circumstances and surroundings but ultimately change the entire world. To find out how, read on.
