We have an old (in today’s lingo-vintage-although to me it seems still new) water-resistant, battery-operated, analog radio in our bedroom. I generally listen to the news while I am getting ready for the day. Even though the station is set, I will still have to move the dial ever so slightly either up or down to have clear reception. Other times I need to point the antennae in a slightly different direction.

I’ve been thinking about the words adjustments and adjusting lately. It seems as if in the last couple of years, the majority of the world has had to make adjustments: the way we interact, conduct business, educate, even socialize. Just being alive requires adjustments: our glasses need tightening, our pants need to be let out, our budgets reconfigured, even in the time you have read this, you may have adjusted your seat position. Lately world changes are happening rapidly and require us to make sudden adjustments.

So I looked up the word “adjust”-

Adjust: to adapt oneself; become adapted. Not too helpful, so I looked up adapt-

Adapt: to adjust oneself to different conditions, environment, etc.: Hmm. Seems a little circuitous to me.

I finally found more definitions of adjust:

Adjust: verb (used with object): to change (something) so that it fits, corresponds, or conforms; adapt; accommodate: to put in good working order; regulate; bring to a proper state or position: to settle or bring to a satisfactory state, so that parties are agreed in the result:

I like the subtle difference with the word adjustment. Adjustments seem to contain small changes that may or may not contain permanence. Most changes in life are subtle and small, yet over time can make big changes. I think of how prejudices can be overcome by the one-on-one relationships and friendships that begin with a simple hello. Or how healthy behaviors start with just one movement or choosing just one item to eat. Or the political movements, good or bad, that begin with just one person and his/her ideas. Small adjustments are similar to adjusting a rudder on a boat- just a slight change can send the boat in a totally different direction.

We adjust our schedules, our clothes, our lifestyles for the situations around us. We have learned to adjust our expectations for deliveries, household goods and services.

I think of how many times during the day that I have to adjust: The to-do list that gets changed. The phone call that rearranges the schedule. The unexpected maintenance for the car or home. I like the part of the definition for adjust: “to put in good working order”.

Our lives are a living adjustment. We have to adjust our thoughts, our wills, our desires, our actions to accommodate the people around us. But more than that, we have to adjust ourselves to what God would want. Not in a robotic way but in a way that puts us in good working order and brings us back to the satisfactory state that God designed. And not only just in our spiritual or intellect. God wants us to come back to the satisfactory state for our physical and emotional selves too. For most of us, it requires subtle adjustments: leaning into humility, recognizing and squashing our pride, thinking of others, listening and obeying what God is saying, eating healthy food, moving our bodies through out the day, listening to others, showing compassion to others and to ourselves.

What about you? What adjustments have you had to make recently? Were they large or small? What was the outcome?

Just like my adjustment of the radio tuner, I find that every day I need and want to make adjustments in my life in order that I may become closer to my authentic, God-designed self.