A Million Little Kingdoms

My generation has a tendency to want to change the world.

We grew up being told to follow our dreams, invest in our passions, and believe that it’s possible for one person to make planet-wide positive change. And many of us have — we’ve built companies, started charities, created movements, and made a tangible impact on the world around us.

But we’re also a stressed out generation. Most of us are burdened with student load debt and trying to live up to increasingly unrealistic expectations. And you know what else can weigh upon a persons’ shoulders?

Trying to find a way to change the world.

You guys, the world is so big! There are literally billions of people in hundreds of countries and trying  to make a notable difference…well, it’s a lot. But I realized something recently.

You don’t have the change the world. You just have to change yours.

Honestly, I don't think any of us are called to change the entire world. As we’ve established, the world is a big place. And even arguably the most influential person ever to live, Jesus himself, didn’t try to do it alone. He could have become an all-powerful king, and extended his influence from a place of celebrity as many expected of the messiah, but instead He looked at the world at hand, the people right in front of him whose lives he could change, and started there.

And if that model worked for Jesus, isn’t that where we should start, too?

In a conversation with RELEVANT Magazine, Sarah Pullman Bailey, religion reporter for The Washington Post, mentioned in a discussion on faith and culture that “now it seems like there are a million little kingdoms.”

I love this idea that within the greater kingdom of God, there are a million little kingdoms. There’s the kingdom of your family. The kingdom of your classmates or coworkers. The kingdom of your church, the women you have book club with on Thursdays, the guys who come over to watch the game, your Facebook friends, the community of people who follow that blogger you love, the other parents you see at your kid’s talent show.

And because you know the people in your kingdom, and they know you, you can be influential and make a big difference.

Jesus started his ministry by gathering a dozen guys and making a difference in their lives. Look at the world at hand, the people right in front of you, and start there. What little kingdom needs you? What little kingdom can you pour into and help make better?

You don’t have the change the world. You just have to change yours. 💜

Take Courage, My Heart

Have you ever had one of those moments when you hear a song for the first time, and it hits you in a place do deep in your heart that instantly hot tears are rolling down your face and dripping off your chin and you’re a hot mess?

Just me? Great.

There’s a song by Bethel Music that turns me into a fountain of salty tears every time I hear it. The whole song is lovely, but the chorus in particular really resonates with me:

So take courage my heart
Stay steadfast my soul
He’s in the waiting

And hold on to your hope
As your triumph unfolds
He’s never failing

I think about waiting a lot. About the things in my life I have been waiting for. Everyone is waiting for something different; for me, it’s a relationship. I keep hoping that this will be the year that I meet someone, fall in love, find my person. But it hasn’t happened yet, so I’m waiting.

Sometimes waiting seems lonely and awful. It can feel tortuous and soul-crushing to watch everyone around you moving forward while you’re waiting.

And that’s why I love this chorus: it reminds me that waiting isn’t something that I do alone. God is in the waiting.

Admittedly, I don’t often think about God being in the waiting place with me. Waiting feels like I’m a little kid, sent to sit on a kitchen stool alone for a time-out, counting down the minutes until the adult comes back into the room and tells me my time is up. It feels like a punishment I have to suffer through by myself.

But if I am courageous and steadfast, the song says, I’ll find God in the waiting. If I really examine the waiting place I’ll find that God is there, that He has always been there, that He will always be there. Because where I am, He is. Waiting isn’t a time where I am forced away from His presence and blessing; I’m not banished to another room. I can still meet with God there.

And yet I still have hope that, one day, my waiting will be over. That God has something good planned for me and that He won’t fail to bring it to fruition, whatever it might be.

The RELEVANT Podcast interviewed singer and songwriter Kristene DiMarco about her inspiration for this song. She said, as she was working through the lyrics with her co-writers, that she realized “we’re all looking for more courage to hang on to our hope.”

I love this idea that hope takes work. It’s not a magical feeling, it’s a thing we strive for. A thing that takes courage. Hope is one of those concepts, like love, that feels simple on the surface, but is actually a vast and tough and complicated thing that we may never fully understand.

Keep holding on to your hope. Keep looking for God in the waiting. Be courageous. I know you can.

And, in the meantime, join me in crying through this worship song 💜