CINDY TRANE CHRISTESON -- The Moral of the Story

“The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life

running up and down the field and never scoring.”

-- Bill Copeland

We were a little surprised to see a new face in the room. The seven of

us have met almost weekly for three months, and I wondered if we would

act differently with a visitor.

Then Becky, the leader of our group, introduced us to her friend.

“This is Trisha, my TV producer, and she wants to watch our group in

action. By the way, she’ll be back next week with a film crew.”

We all sat there with wide eyes and open mouths.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be great,” Becky said. “Just be yourselves.”

We’re pretty good at being ourselves in our “Change Your Life” group.

It began and is led by my friend Becky Tirabassi, whose business and

passion is to help people balance the physical, emotional, spiritual and

mental areas of their lives.

She does all this through books, radio and conferences, and this June

she will have a 10-week series on Monday mornings on the CBS Early Show.

For one of those shows, the network wanted to air an actual group in

action.

When Becky explained this, she assured us it would be fun, and that

they would probably only show us for about two or three minutes. It was

interesting watching the crew set up lights, move furniture and wire us

with microphones. And whenever one of us made a mistake, we reminded

ourselves that they would probably not show that part. You probably won’t

see me spill water on myself or any of us in our tongue-tied moments.

We are a very diverse group, but we all love God, and we pray for and

love each other. We share very honestly our highs and lows, our tragedies

and triumphs. We also share our goals and dreams and give weekly updates

on our progress, or lack thereof.

Knowing that we will be accountable gives the extra needed nudge to

follow through on goals we voice. We have no pretenses, we come just as

we are, and we share just how we are.

Although when we walked in that evening, it was obvious that we didn’t

want the world to see us as we normally are. We looked around at each

other again and burst into laughter.

“I must say, you all look especially nice tonight,” Becky said with a

twinkle in her eyes.

But there were no pretenses as we spoke. I was especially proud of one

woman who admitted a struggle that she hadn’t told us about.

“I decided to go for it if it will help others,” she said.

“But I had to call my mom and tell her today before she heard it on

national TV!”

Normally we are committed to confidentiality, but we made exceptions

that night.

In fact, I expressed my desire about writing this weekly column to

some of the same wonderful women in the group years ago. They encouraged

me, prayed for me and February marked its third year.

It’s remarkable how God works through people, either cheering us on

from the sidelines, or joining right in the game with us.

And you can quote me on that

* CINDY TRANE CHRISTESON is a Newport Beach resident who speaks

frequently to parenting groups. She may be reached via e-mail at o7

cindy@onthegrow.comf7 or through the mail at P.O. Box 6140-No. 505,

Newport Beach, CA 92658.