Some years back, one Sunday, I attended mass. After the priest gave his final blessing, the guitarist started to strum his guitar. And the choir started singing. It was my first time to hear the song they were singing but in my heart, I started singing, too.
The song goes, “It’s time for us to make our dreams come true. A guiding voice will tell us what to do. It’s the time to change ourselves and show the world that we still care for men, and we’ll lead them there.”
It continues, “We’ll lead them to a place beyond the sea, a place of love where everyone is free. Don’t despair the path to happiness is wide if we must change our ways. Call on God for our guide.”
The message of the song resonated so much to me that I instantly learned to sing it, even if up to now I still do not who the composer is. (I googled it but found none.)
Yes, it’s time to change!
Every day is a time to change for the better. But more so, in this season of advent, as we draw close to Christmas and into the New Year, we are being called to change our ways. If we are doing something bad, then it’s time to stop it and start doing something good. If we are doing something good, it’s time to level up and start to make it better. If we have been leveling up all these years, it’s time to rise up even more and go for excellence in the light of love and with God’s guidance.
Every day, we hear and see many terrible thoughts, words and actions of some people. We say, “The world has to change.” And maybe we are right. But this change must begin in ourselves. It has to start from you and me. Not from someone else.
Let the change start from our thoughts, words and actions. May what we are and what we do become a model to the world on how things should be. I know what you are thinking — this is starting to sound overwhelming — for how can I small time person with his weakness as a human being be a model to the world? Yes, I also feel that way. And it’s true, this will be difficult if do it by ourselves alone. But if we call on to God to be our Guide, our Leader, our Provider, our Protector, our Strength, our Compass, our Joy, our Power – we can, even through our seemingly small ways.
What’s beautiful is that He has promised us happiness, joy, and love!
As we come closer to the celebration of Christmas, let us reflect on how we can better our lives by changing ourselves for the better. I know how challenging this is for me and for you – but I also hold on His promises, that whatever He has started in us, He will bring it to completion and fruition.
My friend, it’s time to change!
(Chris Dao-anis, CPA, DTM is a communication and leadership trainer, inspirational speaker, and author of 4 books. For talks and trainings, email him at info@chrisdaoanis.com. Like his page at www.facebook.com/chrisdaoanis. His latest book ‘SPEAK: How to Craft and Deliver a Speech or Presentation w/ Competence & Confidence’ is available at Mt. Cloud Bookshop, Casa Vallejo, Upper Session Road, Baguio City. Visit his website at www.chrisdaoanis.com.)
