I came across an NPR headline this morning that reads, “World Emerging From Deep Slump, But Can it Last?” The article points to economic indicators in Europe, Asia and the United States that hint at a possible end to the worldwide economic downturn even as it cautions that optimism may be premature. 

Three things stood out to me as I read the piece: 1) the global economy has experienced a downward slide we’ve not seen since the Great Depression, 2) intervention in the form of government stimulus money appears to have stopped the free-fall, 3) while sustained economic improvement and stability is possible, it will require the shell-shocked members of a wounded world economy to approach things differently than we did in the years before 2007 and differently than we are approaching them now. 

Said another way, things can get better but it is unlikely they will (or should) get back to “normal.”

Much can be said about what normal was and how things might improve, but I will leave those what-we-did-wrong and what-needs-to-change debates to the pundits. Instead, reading this article made me think about what it means to change. To make a profound shift from one way of approaching life to another. The question of transformation — of an economy or of an individual life.

The self-help industry promises a new and better “you.” So do many faith communities. Thousands of books and programs and events bring us in, charge us up and, like the economy, hint at the possibility that we can be different. We can be comfortable in our own skin. We can experience joy. We can be a new creation. 

Then we finish the book or leave the lecture or float out of the sermon reinvigorated and ready to receive the promise only to find ourselves days, weeks or sometimes hours later doing things as we’ve always done them.

Or not… 

Sometimes change does take hold. Addicts get sober. Depressives find hope. The lost are found. I have no idea why some go to rehab and get better and others don’t. Or why some people embrace Jesus and grow in love while others remain unfriendly, egotistical and self-aggrandizing. I find it confounding that some people are blessed with a strong, life-giving faith and others cannot feel the presence of God in their lives.

But what’s one woman to do?

This question was swirling in my head as I moved from the NPR site to my Twitter feed. There, sandwiched between the morning greetings and occasional silliness was a simple post:  

Who says nothing profound can be said in 140 characters or less.