Change the World
Eric Clapton sings a song “Change the World†that I really like. It’s a song that suggests that people could see his real thoughts and deep within his heart if he were in control of things. He says he could actually make the world a better place…if he could just change the world.
I was reminded of someone from my past yesterday. She had that “change the world attitude†as a missionary who lived most of her adult life in Cuba and Costa Rica.
Eulelia was quite a determined woman. She was insistent there was nothing to stop her mission of helping others learn how to read by using the Bible and other religious materials which were translated in their native language. She was passionate about raising money for printing costs – the major expense of her ministry.
In the 1950’s Castro took over Cuba and ran the missionaries out. She was there when that happened and found herself in another country – Costa Rica – shortly afterwards.
It was right before Castro took over Cuba when a Greenville, SC acquaintance visited Eulelia. They rode donkeys from one place to another. Eulelia shared her passion of helping the people learn to read so they could share their faith with others as they taught friends and relatives to read as well.
Ironically enough, I was in a meeting yesterday as a distinguished grey headed woman and I started to talk. The more we talked, the more we realized we had some connections in the past. Turns out her minister was the father of my deceased husband in Greenville. It also turns out that she was the one who visited Eulelia in Cuba those many years ago.
Today this lady works with a program for at risk youth in her community. She is known to be passionate about her work and extremely energetic, just like Eulelia was those many years ago on their visit together.
Do you think you are just one person and you can’t really change the world?
If you have the passion and drive to make a difference like both these ladies, you don’t need anything else. It’s the passion for making a difference, righting a wrong, or encouraging people to look at things a bit differently that can leave a legacy of change. It doesn’t take magic or waiting for something that may never happen. It just takes determination, hard work, and someone who is not scared to tackle an issue.
Eulelia has been gone for some time now. She discovered she had a disease that slowly destroyed her body. When she found out she was ill, she could have stayed here in our modern hospitals to deal with it. Instead, she went back to be among her people…her friends in the remote villages of Costa Rica. That is where she lived…that is where she died…with the people she had come to love and those who loved her deeply for her ministry.
Eulelia’s legacy will live on. She was a simple but determined woman. A woman determined to change the world – one person at a time.
If we could all live our lives that way, what positive changes could be made in this world?
My wish for you today is that you live life passionately and with a determination to change the world one step at a time. Don’t be just one of the bunch. Venture out to make the world a better place. Live a life that leaves an example for others. Work around those things that keep you from being all you and others can be. Change the world with a positive passion and enthusiasm for life.
~ Joellen