Don’t look up at a clock or for the ball to drop. Look out into the world and find something to change for the better.

I have an idea, but it won’t come with confetti or a kiss at midnight.  In addition to changing your waist size, your hair color, or your career path, change the times we live in.

I know that was a huge leap but so is faith. And it’s going to take some big steps for us to make meaningful progress.

Rather than focus solely on individual self- improvement projects, look for ways to make the world a better place for someone else.

These are not big shoes to fill, and we are not filling someone else’s shoes. No, they are our own and waiting at the door for us to step out, get involved and get in the way. Enter the fray.

This will not be your normal routine. We will need to go another way and in doing so go against the grain.

Changing the time starts with noticing that it’s wrong, off by a few minutes, a couple of hours or a few hundred years. We then must adjust the hands, push back on the hands that determine future time.

It is a matter of time though it is not about finding the time or waiting for the right time to push ahead. Instead, the time will find us as we are now finding ourselves in a time that needs to be changed.

So, who will you be this time?

As we enter a new year, clocks are rolling back on the rights of those made vulnerable due to neocolonial capitalism, race and racism, bigotry, misogyny, and patriarchy. We have seen all of this before, reflective of time past.

Therefore, we need more hands in if we are to move the hands past this time in human history. The clock is ticking.

“Whatever you’re meant to do, do it now. The conditions are always impossible,” author Doris Lessing said.

So, count your calories but also those who are counting on you to change for the better. Consider this a sign of the new times.

Upcoming Events

On January 2nd, I will offer the homily at the Interfaith Prayer Service in honor of the swearing- in of Mayor Muriel Bowser in Washington, D.C. For more information and free tickets, click here.

On January 27-28, I will offer a workshop at the Confronting Whiteness conference at Myers Park Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. The conference will be online as well as in- person. For more information and to register, click here.