everything sad is coming untrue ...

today, a friend posted a quote from her daughter:

think of others and they will think of you.

then i turned on the tv, and ‘pay it forward’ was just starting.

i saw this movie a long time ago, but remember being very impacted by it. a little 7th grade boy, trevor, has the idea to do something good for three people, and the only thanks he asks is that they in turn do something good for three more people, and so on. you’ve probably heard about paying it forward at the drive-thru, getting the next person’s drink, or whatever. but think about if you did something that really made a difference? the lives of over 1.5 million people could be changed in just 13 steps.

and it all starts with thinking of others.

you can’t plan it. you just have to keep an eye on people more. because they can’t always see what they need. it’s your big chance to fix something that’s not like your bike. you can fix a person. (trevor - pay it forward)

now, of course, no one can ever really fix another person. but when you are attentive to the world around you, you have the chance to take a step into someone else’s pain.

it makes me think about the song ‘fix you’ by coldplay.

And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

And high up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

you have the chance to show someone what they’re worth. you have the chance to be the light that guides someone home.

of course, that means banking on the word and goodness of others.

but that’s what love is.

it “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 corinthians 13:7)

in love, God sent His Son to die for us knowing that not everyone would take Him up on His offer. but He did it anyway, because He knew that some would, and that they would tell others.

trevor came up with the idea because of a social studies project, but he says “i don’t care about the grade. i just wanted to see if the world could really change.” i won’t tell you what happens, but i will say that in a very short period of time, he was able to make a far greater impact than he knew.

that may seem overwhelming, but it starts with just one person. we have the opportunity to make that same kind of impact. we have the opportunity to change the world.

as jason gray says in his song ‘everything sad is coming untrue’

from the war torn city streets
to the trash the slum dogs eat ...
and in rwanda’s killing fields

everything that i thought i knew ...
everything sad is coming untrue

when we learn to live again
and let forgiveness win
there’s no wound that love won’t mend
and finally redeem

the power is ours.