As we come to the end of the year I don't know about you, but I've started thinking about how I might make a difference in the New Year.

Not that I can't make a difference to my world every day, of course, but there's something about the turning of the page into a new year which focuses the mind, isn't there?

Some of us make 'resolutions' ... lists of things we hope to achieve in the next 12 months. Things usually for ourselves, changes we may want to make to improve our situation. 

Some of us have dreams we would like to see come true ... I've spoken a bit about that in the past year in this daily blog as I've meandered through 2021 One Day at a Time. These may be wishes or wants which we think will improve our lives. Or maybe we want to relocate, thinking that will make our lives better. That's always a tricky one. Take it from me.

Anyway, our resolutions for the new year often are about us ... but how about this year making them about other people as well? How about making 2022 more about considering others, sharing as much love as possible and understanding each other a bit more?

Just a couple more days now for this daily blog so I'm taking the time today to share with you one of my favourite songs which has a brilliant message. It's from the Gaither Vocal Band in collaboration with the African Children's Choir.

Although there is a lot of good that goes on in the world, and thank God for that ... there is still so much division, it seems, and so many people who think they are 'above' others. There are those who look down on other people, thinking themselves superior for all sorts of reasons - status, power, wealth, looks, gender, colour ... I'm sure you can add to the list.

This song has a powerful message relating to that.

In our celebrity obsessed culture so many compare themselves to others thinking that they are lacking in some way because they don't have what others have. Maybe they aspire to that certain 'look' which everyone around them seems to have ... or maybe they think they are inferior because they can't afford all the 'trappings' of what the world think success looks like.

If that's you, this song is for you too.

So, looking ahead to 2022, if there's something I can do in the new year to make the world a better place for those I share it with, as well as myself, then perhaps I can start by taking note of this song and share a little love. And to remember that we are all equal in the eyes of God ... I'm not better than anyone else ... and that everyone deserves respect. 

And as this song says, we're all different and if we were all the same ... how boring would life be?  Let's be proud of our 'difference' and only make the changes which will make us better people, rather than like everyone else. I don't know about you, but the older I get the more I enjoy standing out. It's time we all stopped thinking we need to be clones of each other!

I love these words - we can be anything we want to be. So that doesn't exclude dreams and resolutions. And sometimes we do need to make changes in our lives.

But this also reminds us that we have the power inside ourselves to make the changes that may be needed to make this world a place where everyone feels included, no one feels inferior - a more loving, kind, compassionate, equal and positive world. 

We're as different as night and day
We're the same in different ways
And it's true, just look at me and you

We can change the way we are
The power lives inside our hearts
We can be anything we wanna be

If coal can turn to diamonds
And sand can turn to pearls
If a worm can turn into a butterfly
Then love can turn the world
Oh, love can turn the world

The God who made you made us all
Big and little, short and tall
And that's fine 'cause it takes all kinds

If He had made us all alike
It sure would be boring life
But He knew what little time could do

If coal can turn to diamonds
And sand can turn to pearls
If a worm can turn into a butterfly
Then love can turn the world
Oh, love can turn the world