{"id":11229,"date":"2016-02-04T19:51:19","date_gmt":"2016-02-05T00:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/?p=11229"},"modified":"2016-02-04T19:51:19","modified_gmt":"2016-02-05T00:51:19","slug":"saving-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2016\/02\/saving-the-world.html","title":{"rendered":"saving the world"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I can’t save the world. And it makes me\u00a0crazy<\/em>. I can’t even save individual people. Or cats & dogs. And\u00a0that<\/em> makes me crazy, too. Because I’m a fixer, by nature. It’s what I do: I try to fix broken things. Now, that doesn’t mean people are broken — that’s not what I’m saying. But sometimes things in their lives are, and I too often want to fix those.<\/p>\n

And what I’ve learned is that this saying by smart ol’ Unknown is true: very few folks I love want to be saved (re: have things ‘fixed’ for them). They want to be loved.<\/p>\n

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I’m pretty good at that, actually. I love so very many people. And cats. And dogs. And bees & neglected children & the sad lawyer\u00a0at the courthouse\u00a0today who needed a hug (I didn’t give him one — learned\u00a0that<\/em> lesson a while ago!), but who received instead a compliment on his tie and a huge smile. It’s what I do…<\/p>\n

Still, when people I care about have things that are very badly cracked (some might say breaking), I want to fix them. And save at least their place in the world. Instead, I’m trying to learn grace. Which is pretty hard for non-Christians to define: the term has been kind of coopted by the idea of divine Christian grace. But grace predates Christianity — I’m not sure what it was called then, but the idea remains consistent. It’s what the universe offers us when we are in harmony w\/ our lives, our world. It has to be one of my beginner’s hearts hardest assignments, and one I continue to study. As if my life depends on it. Which it does, of course. All our lives depend on grace.<\/p>\n

So in the meantime? Instead of beating my head against the\u00a0I can’t save the world<\/em> wall, I’m practicing grace. It’s kind of like when I went back to ballet as an adult, I’m sure. My practice bears little resemblance to real grace! But it’s a start. And eventually? Like ballet, I may get most improved. While it may not save the world, it will help. It will help.<\/p>\n

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I can’t save the world. And it makes me\u00a0crazy. I can’t even save individual people. Or cats & dogs. And\u00a0that makes me crazy, too. Because I’m a fixer, by nature. It’s what I do: I try to fix broken things. Now, that doesn’t mean people are broken — that’s not what I’m saying. But sometimes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,397],"tags":[11,1181,1187,262,1200,1152],"class_list":["post-11229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grace","category-love","tag-beginners-heart","tag-britton-gildersleeve","tag-buddhism","tag-buddhist-blogs","tag-grace","tag-save-the-world"],"yoast_head":"\nsaving the world - Beginner's Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I can't save the world. And it makes me\u00a0crazy. I can't even save individual people. Or cats & dogs. 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