A young man went to the doctor and said, “Doc, sometimes I get headaches, my eyes burn, and I can’t get my breath.” After an examination, the doctor said, “My diagnosis is that your brain isn’t getting enough oxygen. I expect you to eventually become completely unconscious and lapse into a coma. Sadly, there is no surgery or medication that can help your condition. Therefore, I suggest that you quit your job and spend what few days you have left enjoying yourself.”

Naturally, the young man was devastated by that diagnosis, but he decided to take the doctor’s advice and make the best of the days he had left. So he quit his job, withdrew all his savings from the bank, and booked himself for a flight around the world. That trip would require him to purchase a new wardrobe.

The day before he was to leave, the young man went into a men’s shop to buy the new clothes. As he was being fitted for his shirts, the salesman asked him, “What size do you wear?” “15 neck and 33 sleeves,” was the answer. Doubting that claim, the salesman slipped a tape measure around the young man’s neck and said, “Looks to me like you wear a 16.” “No,” said the young man, “I wear a 15, always have.” To that the salesman replied, “Okay, I’ll sell you 15’s but they’ll be too tight, and that will cause headaches, burning eyes, and shortness of breath.”

The moral of the story is that sometimes our stubborn refusal to make an appropriate change creates unnecessary pain and difficulty for us. The old line has now been used so much that it has become a cliche, but it still rings true: “It is a form of insanity to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results.”

So tell me, where does this post find you? Are you beating your head against the same wall day after day and expecting that wall to eventually fall? Are you plugging in “1 + 1” each week and anxiously awaiting the time the total comes back “3”? Pardon me for saying it, but maybe it’s time you changed your shirt size. Why don’t you talk to God and ask Him if there are any changes (little ones or big ones) that He wants you to make? And if He burdens you to make one, do it promptly. After all, life is hard enough without you making it harder than it has to be.