Changing your world
Whenever I think of new years, I think of New-Year resolutions. I learnt early in life that such did not work for me so I make New-Day resolutions. That way, when I promise not to sin, or go back to an addiction, and then I fail, I know I failed for that day (moment) and not the whole year! Then I pick up myself from where I fell, dust myself clean, and start afresh the next day. I do not have to wait for the next year to come before I make a resolution or start anew.
So where was I? New-Year resolutions. One consistent characteristic of new-year resolutions is “change”. Something different, better, is planned, hoped for, or is being worked towards. It’s a time for change.
Where does change start from? Change starts from within, from self, with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Let me share with you my tissue paper experience. I buy a certain amount of tissue paper per month. I buy enough to last two months. During one period in time, I had a flat mate. In less than 2 weeks, the 2-month supply of tissue paper had finished. The mathematics I could not understand in primary 5 told me (from inverse proportion) that if 1 person uses tissue for 2 months then 2 will use same number of tissue for 1 month! Not 2 weeks! I was annoyed. Not long after, I had a different flat mate. Tissue paper supply finished in 1 week. I even changed quality of the tissue paper assuming it was the softness that was causing the attraction. That did not work. Then one day, I walked into the ladies of the office. In one of the toilets there was no tissue paper so I asked the lady entering the next one to cut out some tissue from the toilet she was about entering. She did so and gave me the tissue paper she had cut out. Then I said, “Madam, you know I only want to ease myself” (Not mop the floor because the tissue paper she cut out for me was much!) and she replied “yes I know, I was just giving you the minimum you need for that!” Did I learn anything from that experience? Yes I did, much more than the minimum required amount of tissue paper.
For someone like me who likes to change everything around me, that experience taught me that change needed to start from me. Nothing was wrong with the people around me. When I went back to ask the Holy spirit for what else (apart from tissue paper) that I needed to change in my life, we came up with a long list which made me say “Hey Holy Spirit, that is too much to do on my own!” Then I recalled the promise that the God of peace will make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ [Hebrews 13:20-21]; and as long as you have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you, God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him [Philippians 2:13]. I definitely needed God’s help for change.
You have the power to change your world, to change all that is happening around you, to change people around you. Let your change start with you – your words, your thoughts and meditations. This change will translate to your actions and eventually all around you. Let your change come from inside out. The good news is you don’t have to do it on your own. The Holy Spirit is there to help you.
You may have made a new-year resolution to change the closest person around you, to change a friend, to stop an addiction, to take on a new leaf, to start on a new project, etc. Allow the Holy Spirit change you, to direct your path, and to fill you with hope. God is at work in you ready to walk with you each step of your way to change. Sit back and relax as you watch God doing His thing with you – the apple of His eyes.
Remain blessed.
So where was I? New-Year resolutions. One consistent characteristic of new-year resolutions is “change”. Something different, better, is planned, hoped for, or is being worked towards. It’s a time for change.
Where does change start from? Change starts from within, from self, with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Let me share with you my tissue paper experience. I buy a certain amount of tissue paper per month. I buy enough to last two months. During one period in time, I had a flat mate. In less than 2 weeks, the 2-month supply of tissue paper had finished. The mathematics I could not understand in primary 5 told me (from inverse proportion) that if 1 person uses tissue for 2 months then 2 will use same number of tissue for 1 month! Not 2 weeks! I was annoyed. Not long after, I had a different flat mate. Tissue paper supply finished in 1 week. I even changed quality of the tissue paper assuming it was the softness that was causing the attraction. That did not work. Then one day, I walked into the ladies of the office. In one of the toilets there was no tissue paper so I asked the lady entering the next one to cut out some tissue from the toilet she was about entering. She did so and gave me the tissue paper she had cut out. Then I said, “Madam, you know I only want to ease myself” (Not mop the floor because the tissue paper she cut out for me was much!) and she replied “yes I know, I was just giving you the minimum you need for that!” Did I learn anything from that experience? Yes I did, much more than the minimum required amount of tissue paper.
For someone like me who likes to change everything around me, that experience taught me that change needed to start from me. Nothing was wrong with the people around me. When I went back to ask the Holy spirit for what else (apart from tissue paper) that I needed to change in my life, we came up with a long list which made me say “Hey Holy Spirit, that is too much to do on my own!” Then I recalled the promise that the God of peace will make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ [Hebrews 13:20-21]; and as long as you have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you, God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him [Philippians 2:13]. I definitely needed God’s help for change.
You have the power to change your world, to change all that is happening around you, to change people around you. Let your change start with you – your words, your thoughts and meditations. This change will translate to your actions and eventually all around you. Let your change come from inside out. The good news is you don’t have to do it on your own. The Holy Spirit is there to help you.
You may have made a new-year resolution to change the closest person around you, to change a friend, to stop an addiction, to take on a new leaf, to start on a new project, etc. Allow the Holy Spirit change you, to direct your path, and to fill you with hope. God is at work in you ready to walk with you each step of your way to change. Sit back and relax as you watch God doing His thing with you – the apple of His eyes.
Remain blessed.
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