Orange

     CHANGE

     Recently, God has been changing the way I view change. Change to me was something that does away with the old and replaces it with the new, however, I have been seeing that this is not the case. While living in Mission Year I have been learning that one of the key aspects of change is humility. We are encouraged to come along our neighborhoods in what change they are already trying to cultivate. To put our dreams aside, and instead use our abilities to help others accomplish their own. Because although we may have God in us, He is not only in us, he has been working in our communities long before we got here.

THE CHALLENGE

     This can be challenging because it means to submit to someone else's approach in handling  problems. And in being flawed creatures, no one is going to have to the perfect approach to any problem. But if all we do is try to resolve problems our own way, rather than coming along side the direction of somebody else, we would make very little progress in moving forward.

     FROM THE INSIDE OUT

Go to the people

Live among them

Learn from them

Love them

Start with what they know

Build on what they have

But of the best leaders

When their task is done

The people will remark

"We have done it ourselves"    

Lao Tzu

     As a teenager, I idolized the rebellious force "Stevo" from the movie "Salk Lake City Punks" who hated the flaws and injustice of our current system and refused to take part in it. But even he at the end of the film realized "We can do a hell of a lot more damage in the system than outside of it!" If we want to see something change, we cannot simply toss it out but instead "build on what it has." If a community already has dreams, plans, leadership and organizations, we must "learn from them" and offer who we are so that "the task can be done." If we are able to humble ourselves first to God, and then to one another, we will then be able to fulfill the dreams of others as well as our own.

 Here is a children's poem that embodies some of the feelings I have been having surrounding change.

There once was a man who hated green, because the man who made blue was very mean.

He didn't like green, but orange instead. The problem was, all he had was red.

So try as he might, the man couldn't make yellow, he had no choice but to join this blue fellow.

They worked all day ,mixing paint in a circle, blue worked with red until their faces turned purple.

Once they had finished, blue still made green with his yellow. But red could made orange now and thanked the blue fellow.

If you would like to contribute to my Mission Year experience you can donate by visiting my page at

https://missionyear.thankyou4caring.org/charlieoconnor I could also use your prayers for support, protection and patience!

Thanks all for reading!

Love in Christ,

-CHARLIE