Many of us are wary of change, though it’s often a good thing. And, at times, we all need change.
Often, there may be some-thing or some-one who encourages such a transformation. That makes them a catalyst, and having such a change agent in our lives can be wonderfully helpful at times.
Around the start of the 20th century, the term “catalyst” became known as a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself undergoing change. By mid-century, the word had taken on a figurative meaning as something or someone that causes change to occur.
The question is: in your life, what is your catalyst?
What is Your Catalyst?
As a freshman at Georgia Tech, I couldn’t stand chemistry lab. It wasn’t so much that I disliked the subject matter; after all, what’s not to love about hydrochloric acid and benzene? It was because my lab ran from 3:00 to 6:00 on Friday afternoons. For 6 months! While other Yellow Jackets were already getting into weekend mode, I was titrating chemicals and making detailed—normally wrong—annotations in my lab book.
It was misery! But, I came to learn what a catalyst was, at least enough to recognize when one showed up in my life.
Being an ex-alcoholic—actually, they say you are always one—I benefited greatly from techniques learned in recovery. Enough to write a book called STEPS about how those principles can help anyone improve their lives one day at a time. But, in my recovery, God was the catalyst.
I am also a supporter of self-improvement. I’ve read dozens of books in order to distill and synthesize the methods one can use to make their life better through motivation, planning, and good habits. But, for any life improvement steps I have made in my life, God was the catalyst.
It goes without saying that God was the catalyst in my spiritual life. He drew me toward him in my thirties and changed my life one wonderful evening in a packed football stadium in Jacksonville.
I appreciate, write about, and teach how recovery, self-improvement, and spiritual principles can all help us along our life improvement journey.
But, I never forget who the catalyst is.
What Makes God Different?
People suffering from addiction and obsessive issues—which means all of us—can be helped by recovery. It has happened for millions of people all over the world. And lives can be made better through proven life improvement principles if they are earnestly applied.
But, only God possesses these catalytic qualities:
- His change is always for the better, even if we don’t realize it at the time.
- Our entire life, either one part at a time or all at once, can be changed.
- God-inspired transformation can continue for our entire life. And beyond.
- The speed of transformation could takes years, but it can occur in a second.
- God sometimes uses something bad to do something good in us. Amazing.
- He is the only catalyst that possesses for-real, yes-it’s-true supernatural power.
- Once changed by God, we can become empowered to act as a catalyst for others.
And there’s one more thing that makes God a different kind of catalyst.
In recovery, you work the Steps to get better. In self-improvement, it takes determination and will power to make progress. But, God can remake our lives on his own. As the catalyst, he stays the same, but our lives can be transformed. We just need to participate in the experiment.
I don’t believe there are any secret ingredients for improving our lives, but a catalyst is a known ingredient. And you can know God if you truly want to: “Seek, and you shall find.” Which leads us to the conclusion that the real question in life is not: “What is your catalyst?” It’s Who?
Question: Are you willing to undergo positive change, and what is your catalyst?
Action: Take the time to know God better and turn your “What” into a “Who.”
Photo by jimmiehomeschoolmom 
Photo by siraf72 Photo by SMU Central University Libraries
