You’ve heard the old saying about a leopard not being able to change his spots. Well, a psychologist friend of mine tells me that in his experience people can change, but they only usually do it when it becomes too painful not to. It reminds me of a man who was constantly in trouble with the law. He went to confession and told the priest that he was going to change his ways. The priest asked him if he had finally seen the light. ‘No, father, he said. ‘I’ve felt the heat.’ Feeling the heat may well be the thing that forces people to change. But it’s far better to see the light and be inspired to do so. Like the man who wrote the psalm that says, ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me…and restore to me the joy of your salvation.’