There is something interesting about the kanji (Japanese symbols) for Judo. The first symbol, Ju, which we translate in English as “gentle” is of a tree with bamboo poles pushing on the limbs to force them to grow in a specific direction. Even today, if you walk in urban areas of Japan, you will see bamboo poles tied to trees in their gardens. The constant pressure and tightening will force the trees to grow in a certain way, such that in the end they become works of art. If the branches are pushed too hard and too quickly, you’ll end up with snapped limbs and a ruined tree.

This is the way of change for all human endeavors. Change is slow and often imperceivable. No one assumes that with one day of dieting we would reach our goal weight. Nor do we expect to be a blackbelt after one martial arts class. It is readily accepted that any change is a slow process of small successes often accompanied with temporary setbacks that may require us to start again at the beginning. We expect this in all our ventures, except one.

When a person accepts Christ and is baptized, immediate and total change is expected. Anything short of perfection receives immediate claims of hypocrisy from both the world and the Christian Church. Any stumbles or slips into the old ways of thinking or reacting are unacceptable and calls for swift condemnation and absolute censorship. We forget that although grace is totally from God, change requires man’s effort with the Lord’s help. For instant change would snap and ruin a soul.

I’ve heard many inside and outside the Christian faith claim that Jeffery Dahmer’s conversion was dodge and not sincere. The point to some of his eccentric and unsavory actions in prison after his baptism. They failed to accept he was just starting his walk in the light and had a long way to go. Let’s not forget John Newton. Here was a slave trader, who after converting continued in the African slave trade for ten years, before being convicted of its evils. He then fought the rest of his life to end it. And in doing so, wrote the most beloved hymn in the English language, “Amazing Grace.” No, telling how Brother Jeffery’s life would have gone if given more time.

Let us be a little patient and remember the second kanji symbol in Judo. Do, is translated as the Way. The symbol is a path going up to a mountain top with the summit obscured with clouds. We have to remember that change is not a destination, but a journey up to a higher place unseen and unknown.

#Judo, #change, #theWay