Awaken Into The New Year

As I was thinking about closing out another year on my life journey and moving forward into 2016 I was in my office listening to a P.O.D. cd The Awakening. Listening to them I always think back to a college student, Heath, I had when I taught at the TSTC Harlingen, Texas campus. He would come into my College Success class wearing a P.O.D. T-shirt. They were his favorite band he told me. Heath carried a positive energy in wanting to be a welder to help out his mother and younger brother in Rockport, Texas. His life was cut short by a young girl driver who was more interested in driving and talking on her phone than driving.

Listening to the title cut on the CD, I felt the song has a great message for preparing for the New Year. Each New Year can be a great awakening in moving forward to new growth and possibilities. To do so we need to take the moment mindfully to reflect and make the right choices in moving forward. Take a moment and listen to the song and reflect on the lyrics.

The Awakening by P.O.D. (Click on the title to hear music video)

I, I'll take this moment
to make up my mind and decide
If I want to stay broken
Or leave all these feelings behind
(Leave these things behind)

My, my eyes are open
So I can't deny
Say goodbye to all this commotion
And try and find your way so you can shine
(find your way to shine)

[Chorus]
I'll stand unbroken
My eyes are open
My great awakening
The truth is spoken
My eyes are open
To this great awakening

I, I can feel the changes
It's how I want to be
And now I gotta keep it moving
If I really want to be free
(If I want to be free)

I, Still I will follow
Even if there's no one else but me
So let's live like there's no tomorrow
And love like if everyone believed
(If everyone believed)

[Chorus]

My eyes are open
And now I can see
Everything before me
I'm right where I should be

The song to me brings about a reality about our lives that if we are open to the spiritual, mental and emotional struggles we face each year we each deal with areas of brokenness in our lives. As we move forward we each have the choice is we “If I want to stay broken, Or leave all these feelings behind.” The choice is ours to stay broken or grow to where our lives can shine as we are meant to shine. We are not meant to live stuck in brokenness. Often we are stuck by the brokenness or letting the commotion of life cloud our vision. In living a purposeful abundant life we are in an upward growth spiral of growth and shining a light to others to move upward in their lives as well.

The lines in the song “My eyes are open, My great awakening” remind me that for a personal awakening we need to be mindful of having our eyes open to our true selves. We can be blind to our brokenness if we are not willing to open our eyes. In the Bible Psalm 119:18 reminds us, “Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law.” In Ephesians 1:18 the Apostle Paul prays for people “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people”. So it is not the physical eyes that need to be opened but our spiritual insight that needs opened. This goes back to a personal choice to be open to having open eyes.

Another phrase that stands out to me is “And now I gotta keep it moving, If I really want to be free”. Keep moving is a reminder to not be stuck in brokenness or just the blasé attitude of just getting by ok. Make a positive choice to be free of okness and move to Living More Than OK by having a continual growth mindset. Our open eyes with the right choices can be fixed on a future of shining new opportunities. That is what I hope for people in the New Year of 2016.

Reflection: What particular phrases in the song “The Awakening” stood out to you? What brokenness have you experienced that may be holding you back from shining? In what ways do you want to shine in the New Year?