changing the world

i tried my hand at a post earlier tonight, but i didn't like it. it rambled and was fairly inconsistent from the beginning to the end. so this is my second shot at it.

today was a beautiful day of rest. i awoke this morning without much on my plate. i had lunch with a friend in cranberry and coffee with another friend in highland park. i spent a lot of time by myself and a lot with friends as well. these are the sort of days necessary to keep us refreshed.

during my cup of coffee with robby i came across a bit of advice that should be taken myself. every day we are given the opportunity to change the world and have our own lives changed. tomorrow looks like a pretty standard day of work and class, but who knows what is in store for me. i could encounter a customer tomorrow who could change my life, or i could be faced with an opportunity to be of particular help to a co-worker who is struggling with a personal issue. i could be left an encouraging tip or word, or i could give an encouraging word myself. every day we are given opportunities to change the world, it's a matter of how we perceive those opportunities and follow through with them.

i tend to put the weight of the world on my shoulders sometimes. i also like to counter that by putting no weight, sometimes not even my own, on my shoulders. it's intimidating as Christians to go through life thinking that we have to help everyone or fix everyone, especially when we have plenty of things to repair in our own lives. sharing the gospel is an important thing, but i think sometimes we lose sight of the "actions speak louder than words" fact. unless we show love, we cannot preach love.

as fortunate or unfortunate as that fact may be, it's truth. we are faced with a burden of having to be an example of Christ at all times. but we also have the exciting task of sharing the gospel with our actions daily. with our actions we should show love, but with our words we can acknowledge that we, too, are sinners and are, in fact, forgiven.

a friends in one of my grad school classes last semester encouraged me to be prepared for attacks and questions. he prepared for class more than anyone i've seen in our program and was an example to our classmates of how to be a good student. in the same way we should be examples in whatever we do. when i bus tables at work, i try to help my co-workers as much as possible. from the minute i clock in to the minute i walk out the door i'm trying to be useful to my servers as much as possible. it might pay off with better tips and it might not, but working hard to serve them is my way of washing feet. we should all be prepared to wash feet and change someone's perception of our world.