“But what can I do?”

When I read news reports or stop on a TV news channel, I often feel powerless. I’m one little dot in a universe of complexity. I have no way of influencing the course of human events. Darkness is inevitable. But that’s not right, at least the part about being powerless. “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” Thank you, Alice Walker. I needed to hear that.

The mistake I make is thinking that my little efforts won’t change anything in the long run. I focus on the outcome and not the effort. “Nothing will change, so why bother.” In other words, my response to danger or evil or threat isn’t enough to make a difference. In that case, I am powerless. Yes, but…

What if you effort joined my effort? What if our effort became part of a bigger collective? My faith reminds me that Jesus wanted to shift the world toward goodness, change the course of human life toward a deeper relationship with The Sacred, which would alter our insatiable need to conquer and control. Could he have done that all by himself; just snapped his fingers and produced the results? What we know is that he chose a different way. He found one person, and then another, and then another, until he had a collection of “I can’t do that” people. Long story short: everybody has the power to affect change when they link arms and walk together.

I am powerless if I believe I am. But, I’m not and you’re not because “greater is He who is in me than He who is in the world.” Because you count in the overall scheme of things, and so do I. Because I believe what He taught long ago. Because I am not alone in the effort: the Spirit is there and you are there. Immediate results? No. Hard road to travel? Yes. Worth the effort? Absolutely.