When I was in college I had big dreams. I was going to be a psychologist, then a teacher, then a world renown speaker, and then a best selling author. I couldn’t make up my mind. Each dream seemed better than the last. Amongst them all, though, was my burning desire to make things better. In my young heart and naive mind I felt like I could change the world all by myself. And I couldn’t wait to get out of college and get started.

Of course, God had other plans and I still had a lot of learning and growing to do. I never became a psychologist. I was only a teacher for a short while. I never went on a speaking tour. I wrote many things that touched many people over the years, but I was never a best selling author either. Instead, God let me be the father to three wonderful children. God let me be a friend to many people. God helped me to love and care and work and share. God helped me to shine His light and to brighten my own light as well.

I learned too that I didn’t need to be famous or have a certain job to make things better. I saw that while I can’t change the world all by myself, I can help to change my own small part of it. Most of all I realized that I didn’t have to wait to get started changing this world. I saw that every single thing I did changed this world in some small way. I learned that these lives we live are far more interconnected than we could ever know and that God is guiding us all to do what we need to do here.

Anne Frank wrote, "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." Why wait then? Start improving the world around you today. Share your love, laugher, and smile. Spread your joy and kindness. Make the world a little bit brighter by shining your light in it. Let God guide you in this life and into the next.