Changing The World

I went through the normal list of people that I wanted to be when I grew up. A ballerina, a policewomen, the Queen, a firefighter and a teacher. I had a few tagged on the end that were not quite as normal - for instance, for years I was determined to be an astronaut. I spent hours pouring over books about Space and looking at detailed pictures of Space shuttles and how they worked. This desire out-lasted almost all the other little-girl dreams I had about when I would grow up. Then I flew in an aeroplane and didn't feel so good, so I decided that maybe I wasn't going to be an astronaut. I was also going to be one of those people who wear white suits and helmets and walk around the edges of exploding volcanoes. Volcanoes became a passion and for years I looked at every single book about volcanoes I could get my hands on. Although I still can't resist looking at a picture of a volcano if I see one out of the corner of my eye, at some point along the way I decided that this wasn't really the job for me.

Most of the things that I wanted to do when I was little gradually lost their appeal through the years and other things came to take their place. Anything that survived childhood usually faded into the background and got forgotten one by one as I ticked off each one of the teens and left them behind me. My ideas of what I should be doing now, although some early ideas cling on around the edges, are almost completely different from what they were when I was three.

There is one occupation, however, which has survived all the battering that becoming a 'grown-up' can give it. Although my ideas about how I should do it are definitely different, the principle still remains the same. I want to change the world.

When I was very little, my ideas about how to change the world were a little vague, but were something along the lines of being a mother to every child that didn't have one. Later on, the way I was going to change the world was to be a missionary to Africa or South America. Between being a missionary and my present ideas, it was going to be something very big, but not at all defined.

I still want to change the world. I don't feel called to mother every single motherless child in the world and I'm not as keen as I once was on the missionary idea, but my ideas are a little smaller and a lot more definite then they were a few years ago.

You don't have to be world famous to change the world. You don't have to be a millionaire to change the world. You don't have to trek into the heart of the jungle to change the world. You don't have to be anything, except yourself.

Start working right where you are. God has given us world-changing tools which can be used on every-day life. You don't have to wait until you're 'grown-up', you don't have to wait until you're in a foreign country, you don't have to wait until you're a nurse or a scientist. You just have to wait until today. Today is what you have - so use it!