I recently wrote this article picked up by The Washington Post.  Personal responsibility in an age of instant gratification Bil Cornelius As the pastor of a large church, I hear story after story of people who want to live a better life but don't know how to achieve it. But for sheer cluelessness, I don't know if anything can top a story I heard this week about a group of California state workers. They announced plans to protest Friday outside movie theaters showing "The Expendables," which includes a cameo by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The governor recently asked workers to take unpaid days off three Fridays a month because of the state's budget crisis. The employees object to these "furlough Fridays," and the resulting court battle appears headed to the California Supreme Court.

Although the protest seems to be on hold after an appeals court ruling sent state employees back to work Friday, the differences between the two sides remain. The state employees said Schwarzenegger, who leaves office in January, seems intent on laying the groundwork for a return to movies while leaving them with no options. "It's another slap in the face," a union spokesman said. Actually, what Schwarzenegger appears to be doing is trying to take control of his future. If the state workers are worried about their income or job security, they should be doing that, too. Instead of showing a sense of entitlement, they should be doing what they can on their own to improve their situations, not relying on the governor or the state of California to help. This may seem like an extreme example, but I believe it illustrates a fundamental problem in our society - people aren't taking responsibility for getting the most out of their lives. I'm constantly confronted by the stress, burnout, poor health, lack of direction, inefficiency, indecision and stagnation that plague Americans today. But after dealing with people of all backgrounds, Christians and nonbelievers, I believe that fulfillment is not the exclusive domain of a gifted few, but a process of self-development that everyone can use. Most people don't want to settle for less - they just don't know how to achieve more. We make New Year's resolutions. We read books, attend seminars and listen to self-help messages. We dream about how things could be, but we don't know how to reach our goals. I hear too many Christians talk about waiting for God to "open doors" instead of relying on themselves to achieve their goals. Most of us don't understand that success is a matter of day-to-day accomplishment. If you concentrate on reaching small goals, they will eventually add up and you'll reach your biggest goals. It's not just a matter of will; it's about stepping out and becoming comfortable with the risk involved. It's about going from dreaming to putting down goals and setting deadlines. Why don't we understand that? Maybe it's because we live in an era of instant gratification. The world is literally at our fingertips. With the click of a computer mouse, we can order dinner, plan a vacation, run a business or gamble our lives away. Hundreds of TV channels are available to us at the touch of a button. We've been sold a bill of goods. We have been led to believe that we can gain knowledge without studying, achieve fitness by taking a pill and raise well-adjusted children without prudent parenting. We believe we can experience real life by popping in a DVD, develop top-flight organizations through well-articulated mission statements and build successful businesses with slick advertising campaigns. It's so easy for us to think we're changing our lives when we change things on the outside. We believe we can get results without putting forth effort, and without the basic ingredients of perseverance, fortitude and courage. We think that a new job, a new city or a new haircut will make everything better. But real change is an inside job; it starts with our attitude, our efforts and our energy, whether we're California state workers or movie stars-turned-politicians. For Christians, that means realizing that Christ saved us; the rest is up to us.