A few things have happened to me recently that are changing my perspective on the world. It's so easy for me to feel sad and defeated when I look around me, but it's time I changed my attitude. I'm reading "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" by Donald Miller, and he emphasizes the idea of telling a better story. Living a better life. Not just talking about it, or thinking about it, or saying "maybe one day I will....", but actually DOING it. Making it happen. He also talks about the things he did to make his story better. He talks about how in every good story, the main character undergoes some sort of transformation, and that we are all living out a story. It's really inspiring. Read it!
I was also blessed enough to attend the Passion Conference in Atlanta earlier this month. I didn't quite know what I was getting into before I went, but I was completely and utterly blown away by what took place. Over 20,000 God-loving college students from all over the world gathered together to praise God and to actually DO something to make a difference in this world. Over $600,000 was raised for different organizations such as the Not For Sale Campaign, for Children with cleft palettes, small business loans for women in Haiti (before the earthquake) and so much more. Thousands of towels and even more pairs of socks were brought in for the homeless of Atlanta, and lives were transformed. If you think that it's incredible- not only was over $600,000 raised (100,000 over the original goal)- someone in Atlanta heard about what was happening and wrote a check, on the spot, matching what was already raised, bringing the total to over 1 million dollars to help feed hungry children, save women from being sold as sex slaves, and forever change lives. Like I said, it's one thing to talk about something but it's completely another thing to actually do it.
Before that weekend... I was so caught up in my own "problems" (not knowing my future, feeling stuck here, things that are so incredibly small compared to what is going on in the world around me every day)- that I was forgetting about what's important. My life was changed that weekend. Seeing that many young people care so much about what's going on in the world made me realize how incredibly selfish I am. I am wasting the gifts I have. I don't want to sit back and wait for the opportunity to make a difference come to me. I want to put myself out there, to risk failure, to risk heartbreak- in order to make a difference. I don't want to take the easy route anymore. I want to tell a better story. I want to love the world, starting in my community, and working my way out from there. I can't always expect big things to happen, but I have to start small. To remember that every smile, every phone call, every touch counts. Transformation starts from within. It's so easy to get lost in ourselves and forget about those who are truly in need. All it takes is opening our eyes and realize that we CAN make a difference.
And now... seeing how the world is getting involved and actually doing something for the people in Haiti has really confirmed in my heart the path I need to be on. The path to compassion and love. I don't care anymore about which career to choose, or where to live. I mean, those things are important of course- but I believe that as long as I am on the right path the rest will sort of work itself out.
Donald Miller talks about hiking the Inca trail, and how the long and difficult journey made reaching the destination so much more fulfilling than if they had taken the shorter path.
He says:
"The pain made the city more beautiful. The story made us different characters than if we'd showed up at the ending an easier way. It made me think about the hard lives so many people have had, the sacrifices they've endured, and how those people will see heaven differently from those of us who have had easier lives."
The journey truly does define the ending and I don't want to take the easy route anymore.
