Decorating a birthday cake with young children is chaotic. Sprinkles, glitter, chocolate chips go everywhere. Even the candles are experimentally positioned. Rarely does the end result look like the image I had in my head when we started. The children are either happy or fighting in the end. And the table where the decorating occurred is, well, ‘decorated’ too.

Part of what I see in the children is their desire to participate, but also make something for a person they love. They are invested in it. And in our house, it is three different visions and people invested, which sometimes clash.

And so it goes with change. The original vision and reality are often quite different. People get upset and sprinkles of beauty are everywhere. Our visions of change may be different and clash. But perhaps what we need to remember is we clash because we care. And we care because we are invested.

Being invested means we are engaged. And that is what we, as change makers, desire and can work with. When we see it, we need to celebrate it even if it is chaotic.

The choice is up to us.

Photo by Brooke Lark