Unless you happened to be in some kind of coma or perhaps in outer Mongolia, you were aware—sometimes delightfully; often painfully of the ongoing and seemingly never ending campaign for the Presidency. Although we grouse about its intrusion into our daily lives for such a long period of time, in our rational moments we have to acknowledge that free expression of ideas is one of the blessings of a democracy.

Usually in a campaign for any elected office there is a "buzz" word that comes to the surface and kind of frames the debate. In this particular race for the White House the operative word was "change". The voter was constantly being asked to judge which of the two was likely to bring about change.

Interestingly enough the word change has two very distinct meanings—one associated with alteration of something and the other in monetary realm-it refers to what you get back after a purchase.

Each individual deals with change in his or her own unique way. But despite the differences on how one handles it; it is a force that we each must reckon with in our lives. Some change is painful; other change is joyful. But one facet of change that many have difficulty in dealing with is "changing one's mind." Oftentimes when we have our minds made up about something, we can become blinded to other options, viewpoints and possibilities. We can dig in our heels and hold on for dear life; resisting change at all costs.

We all have favorite stories. One of mine comes from one of the parables that Jesus told about two sons. It's so short you might even overlook it. One son is asked by his father to go out and work in the vineyard. At first, he says no, but later changes his mind and decides to do what his father asked of him. The other son gets the same request but he does the opposite. At first he says yes, but then refuses to go. Now Jesus asks the question, which son did the father's will. It's easy—the first son.

Of the many gifts that we are given by God, I would venture to say that we would not include the gift of changing one's mind. Now to most this does not seem like a big deal. But if we are a person of faith it is crucial. It means that every day we have the opportunity to be a little better, a little more God-like. It means that the things, which may have seemed so important and troubling yesterday need not be so today. The ability to change one's mind means that every moment of every day contains a possibility to be better than we were. And it all starts with something very simple—changing our minds.

If and when we change our minds about things; we can give without thinking what is in it for us; we can see in every person the face of God; we can be happy in the good fortune of others; and most importantly we can make room for God in our hearts and souls.

It surely is a matter of focus. When St. Francis de Sales encourages us to use the direction of intention; to give over what we are about to do to God and ask for the grace to do it well—we are without a doubt opening ourselves to being able to change our minds and look to accomplish good and in so doing draw closer to God and be of service to one another.