There once was a man who set out to change the world. He found that he wasn’t making much progress, so he tried to change his country.

This was also too difficult, so he tried to change his neighbourhood. When he didn’t have much success there, he tried to change his family.

Even that was easier said than done, so finally he tried to change himself.

Then an interesting thing happened:

• When he changed himself, his family changed.
• When his family changed, his neighbourhood changed.
• When his neighbourhood changed, his country changed;
• And when his country changed, the world changed.

As a famous Chinese proverb reminds us:

“Before preparing to improve the world, first look around your homes three times”

Sometimes we are overcome with the enormity of the world's challenges, especially in our current climate, with issues such as financial hardship in the world, climate change, little interest in God, consumerism, war neighbourhood security etc.

How we, as adults, handle large issues influences our children in different ways at different stages of their lives. If we retreat to negativity, inaction, ‘the blame game’, then our children notice, absorb and take on our approach.

When we resolve to take part in changing things and do our “little bit”, we hand on an inheritance of changing our world.

As Christians, we believe in the “Strength in the Spirit” that Jesus promised us in our day to day lives: “I will not leave you orphans….I call you my friends”

God can make a difference through us: these are the treasures to model to our children.

That is the “Spirit Way”

Happy NAIDOC Week everyone.

Paul Martin