The Change

My life is not terribly important or profound. In the grand scheme of the universe, I am like a tiny speck. My life will be over in the blink of an eye, and 100 years after I am dead, it's likely that no one will remember me. My actions don't necessarily make a huge or lasting impact on the world, and my legacy will be in the hearts of people who will eventually die themselves. I probably can't do either great good or great evil in this world because I have little power. Some people would use this observation to argue then that it doesn't matter what I do. I could simply live for myself because my actions don't really make that big of an impact on the world anyway. That's not how I see it, however.

Whether or not I drastically change the world, it matters very much what changes happen inside of me. I am small, but I am not insignificant. God designed me and Jesus atoned for my sins, so to God I am quite valuable. My integrity and my faithfulness matter more than the practical impact of my actions. God can see the love, desire, and loyalty in my heart even when the world can't see the impact of my actions. Who I am and what I do is very important to God and ought to be important to me no matter what anyone else thinks. Faith matters more than results, and honesty and humility count more than outward success or physical legacies. Even if what I do is small, it matters.

I find that this point is quite excellently stated in Garth Brooks' song "The Change" from his 2000 album Fresh Horses:

One hand reaches out and pulls a lost soul from harm
While a thousand more go unspoken for
And they say "What good have you done by saving just this one?"
It's like whispering a prayer in the fury of a storm

And I hear them saying you'll never change things
And no matter what you do it's still the same thing
But it's not the world that I am changing
I do this so this world we know
Never changes me

What I do is so
This world will know
That it will not change me