There are times in life where we can look around and realize the greatness that we are working toward. There are other times where the same work seems so incompetant. For instance, I am currently working at a staffing firm, preparing to begin working in a law office in 2 short weeks. There have been days where I think of my current job and say, 'wow, I am helping people find work and looking for the best people for a job.' There are other times where I look around and think, "if I sit here at this desk for another hour I will make $12. And how much good would that $12 do to a poverty-stricken family in Indonesia?"
So preparing to move to DC for this great job in a law firm seems exciting, but at the same time feels so empty. Sure I will be working to ensure the efficiency and consistency of a workforce so that a bunch of lawyers can help protect people's thoughts, inventions, and ideas... but what is that in the big picture? It is easy to justify it by saying "Maybe someone will create an invention that alleviates many struggles that people in this world face daily." But where is the probability of that?
I often feel like God is calling me to a big adventure in life. I feel that He has blessed me so abundantly in my lifetime, that he also blessed me with a heart to share that abundance with others and I just don't know how. There are three things that have stuck out for me, when considering my balance of life and pursuit of greater things.
The first for me is Younglife. Younglife saved my life in high school, not just spiritually. I have been granted opprotunities to give back in the same way others did to me. I have been awarded opprotunities to go and serve for months, or weekends, or days at a time to help relay the message of the Gospel of Christ to lost and overwhelemed high school kids. It has caused me one of the greatest joys I ever imagined.
Another for me is To Write Love On Her Arms. (Check it out at www.twloha.org) As a resident assistant this past year, I have been responsible for planning floor programs for my residents. By far my favorite one was the Love is the Movement program. This program was amazing. I had two residents who were aware of the cause and supported it, and my best friend had a resident who was also involved in this organization. Maybe because of my experiences or maybe just because the story is that moving, I knew I needed to do something about it. I was able to create posters, create shirts, and have an evening of open, non-judgemental discussion. A few of the freshman were even brave enough to stand up in front of their friends present and were able to openly talk about their own experiences. At the end of the semester they gave awards for best program of the year. Most people nominated themselves, and I really should have. And I realized it's not because I wanted to get an award, but I realize that if I had the opportunity to stand up in front of a few of the most influential people on campus and tell them the purpose, that maybe this movement could take more force on campus and people would be aware of the serious issues of depression, addiction, suicide, and abuse. To me that recognition was worth more than an award on my wall, or title on my resume, or glorification that I did something good from my peers. It was about standing for something bigger than myself.
The last thing weighing on my heart has been international injustice. I recieved an email today that said that in Sri Lanka, a Christian high school girl had been beaten up after told by her principle not to go to church. My freshman year I met a woman named Chi Abad who was a nationally recognized speaker who witnessed first-hand the horror and terrors in a sweatshop factory for our American clothes. Young woman are sold as sex slaves, young 10 year old boys take care of their little siblings because their parents die of disease, 7 year olds are trained for war, people are killed for race/religion/sex/or political views, and all of this is not going away. People are not loving each other they way they want to be loved. I am not proclaiming my need to be the next Mother Theresa, but somewhere along the line, we in society got this all wrong. We send our children to school while the drug cartels in our country are having open fire near the bus stops (Mexico) and think this is ok. It is not ok. It is not ok to think about another person hatefully, it is not ok to be unjust because someone is different, and it is not ok to tell people suicide happens.
All of these issues hurt people. They hurt/kill/injure the people directly involved, they hurt the people who love them, and they hurt the people who want more for the world than intolerance and injustice.
Yet even with all that emotion, it is hard to find a place where one can survive, work hard, make money for their family, and still battle against the injustices of the world. I know I can't tackle all of those issues alone. But where God led my mind last night, was that maybe it isn't always about me. Maybe my passion to be outspoken about these issues is so that with enough people to hear and reciprocate my passion more can be done for these causes than I alone can ever dream of doing. So it isn't about boasting, and taking claim for working hard for a cause. It is all about supporting a cause loud enough that it makes a ripple. If you make a big enough wave, the people on the beach will get wet...
