Can A Song Change The World?
I’m a musician. I write songs. I just hope when the day is done I’ve been able to tear a little corner off of the darkness. (Bono of U2)
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by all the suffering in this world and wonder if your life is making a difference?
I do. All I have to do is watch the evening news.
When in less than five minutes I hear about an airplane crash, an earthquake, a school shooting, a brutal rape, child sex trafficking, and war, I just want to scream, “NO!” How can human life be so full of tragedy and heartache? I wonder what impact my one small life can make.
Can caring for my family, or sponsoring a few girls from Africa through PLAN, or writing letters to a Sioux Falls prison inmate, or mentoring a 14 year old girl with a baby, or being a therapist and life coach really change the world? Can it really make a dent in all this brokenness?
And then I remember that God can use what I do, even the smallest act of kindness, to “tear a corner off of the darkness”. And that God can use all of us in our various vocations to tear off different corners of the darkness. And that often we fail to see ourselves as history might: as ordinary people who can and are making a significant impact in the world.
A few weeks ago I was introduced to a lovely and insightful poem composed as a reflection on the anniversary of the murder of a prominent Roman Catholic priest, Bishop Romero. Bishop Romero was passionate about human rights and worked in El Salvador on behalf of the poor and victims of repression during the 1960’s and 1970’s. He was eventually assassinated for his efforts in 1980 by members of the Salvadoran death squad.
May this poem by Bishop Ken Untener, A Step Along The Way, encourage you in your life’s work as it did me. May it fill you with hope that when the day is done, you’ve been able to “tear a little corner off of the darkness.” That your song, whatever it is, will make a difference.
A Step Along The Way
It helps, now and then, to stop back and take a long view.
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s Work. Nothing we do is complete, which is way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
What a beautiful expression: “tearing a corner off of the darkness”, and how it makes such a difference in many ways, something you have done all your life I’m sure.Thank you so very much for your inspirational message, I look forward to your marvelous blogs, and the positive input you always offer, thank you dear friend, for always lifting our spirits and aspirations. Love to you and yours, Doris
Doris, thank you for being such an encouraging presence in my life. God bless you!!
Thanks so much Vicki, it is beautiful……..just like you!