What Does The World Need?
What the world needs now is love, sweet love.
It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.
- Jackie de Shannon, 1965
Love? Is that what’s needed?
Or maybe we need more time? What’s the most common response I hear when I ask someone how they’re doing? (Well, first on the list would be “Fine.”) But a close second and moving up is “I’m so busy”. And it’s said with an exhausted sigh. We must need more time.
Wait. It’s obvious. The world needs God. That’s the right answer isn’t it, for a question on a “religion” blog? God. Must be it.
No. No, wait. I’ve been in L.A. three days now and, honestly, it’s a little disconcerting. Our brothers and sisters in the U.S. are getting slammed by this recession. And it’s getting worse. There is no pocket of conversation that doesn’t somehow reference the economy. I’ve attended five speakers sessions so far and without exception, each presenter has referenced the economy and the hardships that are here and the ones yet to come. The world, obviously, needs money.
Is that it?
Love. Money. Service. Motivation. God. Community. Time.
None of these. (Nope, not even God actually.)
I ached over this question today as I sat beneath a massive palm tree. (In plain sight but completely invisible to the crowds just five feet from my toes.) The world needs something. People need something. I kid you not. There is alot of pain here right now. I woke up to it in a way I hadn’t before. Likely because now, it’s my neighbor suffering. It’s my friend losing his job. It’s my colleague losing her husband.
And I know exactly what the world needs.
This world needs you. YOU! And it needs all of you. You are holding back. I AM HOLDING BACK! We cannot hold back any piece of our truest selves from the world any longer. This world needs you to be actively seeking out your truest self, the truest and fullest person God created you to be. And that’s where God comes in. It’s God’s cry for you. The tears God sheds for you are for the beautiful parts of yourself that have been taken away and buried by the pain of life, the difficulties you’ve endured. Oh, the world needs God alright, but God coming in the form of YOU COMING FULLY ALIVE and reaching out to the people around you. When this happens, when each of us comes fully alive, we will give and the world will get exactly what it needs. The world needs YOU to make GOD real.
I love this journey. I don’t want to fall asleep for a single step of it. I don’t want to miss a single pebble on the path or the slightest whisper on the wind. And I don’t want you to miss it either. You….are….needed.
All of me.
For all of you.
With Him.
Doug
