I Can Not Change The World
I CAN NOT change the world. I CAN'T even try! The world? Seriously??? That's too huge a task. What kind of trouble will I be giving myself? Which area of the world do I want to start from? Geeez! Where would I begin??? The senseless war in Syria? The child labor and trafficking in India? People dying in thousands in the high seas? Child abuse by rebels and extremists in Africa? Rampage of killing sprees in America? Greedy-minded people filling their pockets with corrupt money, amassing more and more as the poor collapse under the ruthless weight of poverty?? Where do I begin? HOW CAN I CHANGE THE WORLD? Ahrrrg! I can't even draw a mental latitudinal line from one continent to another, I don't even know by heart which country lies next to which. Lately I turn off the TV after my mind is filled with listening to horrific news after horrific news; I become genuinely overwhelmed with grief, BUT when someone asks me what happened, I'm already mixing up the names of countries; "the earthquake was in Haiti! Oh no! it was in India. Was the flood in UK? Oh no it was in US. God! please help the people of 'what's that town in Plateau state again'?." My mind is clogging from the darkness and my heart is hardening with every new story...so tell me "HOW CAN I CHANGE THE WORLD???" Slowly I'm beholding my lofty 10-worded-poetically-crafted vision of being a "world-renowned this" and "world-famous that", with hit albums selling in Alaska, and life-changing books translated to Spanish, owning fortune 500 companies operating in China and endorsements running into millions to "help feed the poor"... The words glare at me as I painfully realize there's just one word I can use to summarize them; foolish! Foolish! Foolish!! Foolish!!! NO! I can not change THE WORLD...here's the ONLY thing I realize I CAN DO with this my self-acclaimed "over-hyped" life... I CAN change MY WORLD. I CAN change my habits; admit my weaknesses; I CAN work on my strengths. I can change my attitude toward work; I can apply diligence, embrace integrity. I can change my attitude to the way I view the things of God; I can change my warped belief systems; I can feed it with the Word. I can change the way I handle my finances; I can develop the virtue of contentment, the habit of sharing, the heart of gratitude, in the midst of luring societal systems feeding fat off our vanities and making us weary slaves to irrelevant material possession. I can change from the nonchalant way I love my neighbor; or from the way I take for granted my family and all who love me. I can change from the way I hand that beggar that dirty money; or pinch my nose and turn away in disgust from that sweaty bricklayer in the bus. I CAN change the way I underestimate the power of the second hand of a clock; or the unserious way I treat every 24 hours I am graciously given. I can change the way I'm quick to judge that "call girl" down my street; or that loud area boy at my bus stop, or the fat lady who just "doesn't want to slim down", or that guy in my office or church who dresses "very razz". I can change the way I underestimate the power of a simple smile, or a two-minute phone call to a distant friend, or a 20-word GENUINE message of hope on Facebook. I can change my prayer points and make them less about me and more about others. I can change my motives, my intentions, change my mind about the giving of my love and respect to the ones I think are undeserving of it... I really can't "CHANGE THE WORLD"...because God didn't give me power to change the world....No; HE GAVE ME power to change MYSELF...(now that's a relief! - at least I can measure the dimensions around my body!lol ) Only GOD can change the world... ..."For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son" John3:16...wow...even God had to change the order of things around HIM and allow Himself huge discomfort to be able to save the world.