As you get older you tend to see or have more of a handle on things as they are.
When you're younger you're full of ideals, you want to change the world.
Then one day you catch a glimpse in the mirror you don't like and realize this is the you that's just as bad as all the people you had wanted to save the world from.
Then you know you're not just the victim of all the bad stuff that goes on in the world you're also the perpetrator.
I suppose that's got something to do with the young being full of ideals and people who are a bit older receding into resignation.
Jesus said to his disciples - "you have more to learn but you cannot bear it all just now." I think that some of what they could not bear was the truth about themselves in the sight of God.
Does this mean we should do nothing - No, we should still try but to me - not to change the world but to change one heart at a time beginning with our own.
What we need to find within ourselves is not the "good" but the "Jackbooted Goose-stepping Nazi." Subdue this part of ourselves first then the good will come.
Whew. Really challenged by that "Jacbooted Goose-stepping Nazi." (Some strong words, especially as I am so into what is going on in South Africa right now with the murder of a white supremacist on the weekend. Had swastika as emblem.) I do, still, however, want to change the world.
ReplyDeleteI read a great book by Steve Farber called "The Radical Leap" last year and it changed the way I think about changing "the world" which could seem such a big concept. He talked about world (lower case 'w') and World (upper case 'W'). Lower case w referring to our immediate world. The world we have the power to bring change to. This seems more reasonable. It works with your idea of looking within, ie. How can I can change my world by starting with myself? Then, as we do that, we also change the World.
blessings.
Thank you for taking the time to comment.
ReplyDeleteIt's not an easy subject to blog about, but Christ had to dig a pretty deep pit for himself to get to the place where he could begin to bring us back to God. I like the wee 'w' idea.