Choir Notes

Flexible and Firm

From Music and the Spoken Word

Delivered By: Lloyd D. Newell • Program 4282

"Make firm plans and be flexible.” This good advice from a father to his children may, at first, seem contradictory. Everybody needs goals, purpose, and direction—and the more specific the better. But because life is continually changing and few things go exactly as planned, we have to be flexible and make adjustments along the way. 

We can’t travel very far on life’s highways without encountering detours. In fact, we should expect them. We will enjoy the journey of life so much more when we are willing to change.

Being stubborn and inflexible can damage relationships, limit our prospects, and stifle growth and development. Of course, some things are nonnegotiable. In matters of character, integrity, kindness, and compassion, we should be fixed and steadfast. But in the details of our goals, ambitions, and plans, we must be flexible.

A well-meaning family held a firm grip on some of their holiday traditions. They always did certain things in just a certain way, and they enjoyed the continuity and security of those traditions for many years. But as their family grew, as children married, and as grandchildren entered the family circle, the same traditions that once blessed the family now seemed burdensome. They met to discuss which parts of their traditions should remain the same and how they could adapt them to the needs of their growing family. They were firm in their resolve to maintain loving ties, but because they were flexible in the execution of their resolve, they were able to save and even strengthen precious relationships.

This family had learned that a good pattern of life is to be fixed and firm in our ethics and moral principles, yet flexible and adaptable in our approach—remembering that people always matter, that good human relations are paramount, and that because life changes so much, we must be open to change. We must know when to be flexible and when to be firm.