Who Moved My Cheese?

I recently came across this wonderful book called "Who Moved My Cheese?" It is a book written by Spencer Johnson, MD, and looks at an amazing way to deal with change in your life and in your work. Johnson tells a story with four amusing, imaginary characters; the mice "Sniff" and "Scurry," and the Littlepeople: "Hem" and "Haw." These characters are intended to represent simple and the complex parts of ourselves, regardless of our age, gender, race or nationality. Sometimes we act like Sniff, who sniffs out change early, or Scurry, who surries into action, or Hem, who denies and resists change as he fears it will lead to something worse, or Haw, who learns to adapt in time when he sees changing can lead to something better! Whatever parts of us we choose to use, we all share something in common: a need to find our way in the Maze and adapt in changing times.

Each of us has our own idea of what cheese is, and we pursue it because we believe it makes us happy. If we get it, we often become attached to it. And if we lose it, or it's taken away, it can be traumatic. The "Maze" is where you spend time looking for what you want. Now, everyone knows that not all change is good or even necessary. But in a world that is constantly changing, it is our advantage to learn how to adapt and enjoy something better. Change in our lives is inevitable. What will make you or break you is how you handle and respond to change. Change can be stressful, unless you have a way of looking at change that helps you better understand it. What do you do when you usually face change? Well, you usually respond like one of the characters, Sniff, Scurry, Hem or Haw.

We usually cannot control the changes in our lives, at work, or church, but we can control how we respond, and how we respond is critical to our happiness and success in life. We can choose to look at change negatively, or we can learn how to adapt to change in order to enjoy somthing better. You can either handle change like Hem, who denies and resists change as he fears it will lead to something worse, or you can handle change like Haw who learns to adapt in time when he sees changing can lead to something better. You see, the whole point is this, we can't live on the cheese that once made us happy and content. Why? Because either your cheese will become old, or it will be consumed and disappear. Change happens!

Once you discover cheese, you tend to want to continue feeding off of the same cheese over and over again without realizing that your cheese supply is shrinking and changing. You could either deny that there are changes occurring or you can notice the changes and expect the inevitable. If you choose not to deal with change properly, and one day you are going to realize that there is no more cheese. You can complain, get angry, depressed, and deny what has happened, and stay in a cheeseless situation, or you can begin looking for new cheese. The more important your cheese is to you, the more you want to hold on to it. When it is gone, the harder it is to find a new piece.

After a while, Haw began to realize that there was no more happiness being in his cheeseless situation. He began to imagine Sniff and Scurry finding new cheese and enjoying it. He began to think about how good it would be for him to be out on an adventure in the Maze, and to find fresh New Cheese. He could almost taste it. The more he began to visualize finding new cheese, the more he saw himself leaving his cheeseless situation. "Let's go," he told Hem, but Hem said, "NO," I like it here, it's comfortable, it's what I know." "No it isn't," Haw argued. "We've run through many parts of the Maze before, and we can do it again." "I'm getting too old for that," Hem said. "And I'm afraid I'm not interested in getting lost and making a fool of myself." With that, Haw's fear of failing returned and his hope of finding new cheese faded. So they continued to stay in their cheeseless situation. They tried to deny what was happening, but found it harder to sleep, had less energy the next day, and were becoming irritable.
By now the Littlepeople, "Hem" and "Haw," were getting tired and weak, just waiting for their situation to improve. The longer they stayed in their cheeseless situation the worse off they would be. After a while, Haw realized that they were not going to put yesterday's cheese back, and it was time to find new cheese. Haw said, "Sometimes, Hem, things change and they are never the same again. This looks like one of those times. That's life! Life moves on. And so should we." Haw prepared to head out into the maze to find new cheese. Just before he did, he drew a picture for Hem of a piece of new cheese, hoping that Hem would be motivated to change. He wrote next to the picture, "If you do not change, you can become extinct." As Haw began to head out into the maze, he smiled. He knew Hem was still wondering, "Who moved my cheese?" Haw began to move into a new direction and eventually found new cheese, and what cheese he found! There were different types of cheese he had never seen before. He tried each one and found that they were delicious. Haw realized that if he would have moved sooner, he would have very likely found a good deal of new cheese there. He wrote this on the wall, "The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you will find new cheese." Haw eventually went back to Hem and tried giving Hem a piece of new cheese only to be turned down. Hem said, "No thanks. I don't think I would like new cheese. It's not what I'm used to. I want my old cheese back and I'm not going to change until I get what I want." Haw shook his head in disappointment and reluctantly went back out on his own, and continued to enjoy the new cheese that he found. He hoped that his friend Hem would one day join him. Haw said a little prayer and hoped as he did many times that his old friend would finally be able to move with the cheese and enjoy it!

Change is difficult but inevitable for all of us. What we need to learn is that if we accept change, embrace it and move with it, we would be far better off than we once were. God is changing our lives and He is changing our church. We can either deny change, or resist change, or embrace it and accept that it is happening and the reason it is happening is because God has something new and wonderful for us. We can either keep asking the question "Who moved my cheese?" or we could simply move with the cheese. We've got to stop holding on to the past, and stop holding on to old cheese. The sooner you let go of the old cheese, the quicker you will find new cheese. The sooner we let go of the past, the quicker we will discover the new things of God. The new cheese is far better than old, or even none at all!