In Jeremiah 1:5, the Lord speaks to Jeremiah and tells him that even before he was born, The Lord set him apart to be a prophet to the nations. I believe that this is the case with all of us; that even before we were formed in our mother’s womb, God already had a plan for our lives. It therefore is up to us to find out the why and pour out ourselves into it.
I looked into the lives of not one but two great women whom, even though they are no longer with us, their works continually remind us of them.
Mother Teresa was a Catholic nun who is popularly known for her charitable works. She left the comfort of a convent to go live with the destitute, the outcasts of the villages, the dying; in essence all the people whom the society didn’t think deserved to be loved but she loved them anyway. The start of her charity work was very tasking. With no income, she begged for food and supplies and experienced doubt, loneliness and the temptation to return to the comfort of convent. In a journal kept by her, she wrote
Our Lord wants me to be a free nun covered with the poverty of the cross. Today, I learned a good lesson. The poverty of the poor must be so hard for them. While looking for a home, I walked and walked till my arms and legs ached. I thought how much they must ache in body and soul, looking for a home, food and health. Then, the comfort of Loreto [her former congregation] came to tempt me. “You have only to say the word and all that will be yours again”, the Tempter kept on saying … Of free choice, my God, and out of love for you, I desire to remain and do whatever be your Holy will in my regard. I did not let a single tear come.
She run the Missionaries of Charity Organization that set up schools, homes for the dying and elderly and even missions.
Do not for a single moment be tempted to think that since she was participating in a humanitarian act she didn’t face any opposition. Most of the criticism was based on the fact that she openly fought again divorce and especially abortion. That didn’t auger well with the people. I love her response: “No matter who says what, you should accept it with a smile and do your own work.” She was not in any way relenting from what she believed in. Criticism didn’t deter her from pursuing and consequently living up to her purpose.
Coming closer home, we have Wangari Maathai, whom if you ask me, was an iron woman. She was a political environmental activist at a time when (to say the least) the freedom of expression was more or less an item found only in the constitution. If the affected parties felt like you had become a threat, anything could happen to you, so long as they got rid of the threat.
I watched a documentary on one of her campaigns against deforestation. It looked like an expert from a movie where the hero is thought of as a mole by the very same people who should be helping her. Instead of getting protection from these same people, she was harassed and even at some point imprisoned. The International community celebrated her, by awarding her “The Nobel Peace Prize”, yet her own countrymen were fighting her. Today, most of us reap the benefits of her undeterred efforts to protect our environment.
Every one of us is in a position to make a difference. You do need to be the president of the country to make a difference. It only requires that you do the small things that you do every other day in a big way. You need to make up your mind that you won’t give up regardless of anything that comes your way because challenges are assured, but so is victory, if you do not give up.
Keep on keeping on 😉😉
