Trying to be a hero.

How can people pick themselves up by their bootstraps if they don't even have boots?

I have spent the last two nights worrying about people's lives that I have no control over. Somehow in the back of my mind I think if I try harder, if I say the right thing then perhaps I will reach them and they will change their lives forever. Guilt sets in that I am not there for them enough, I am not doing enough, calling enough, falling through enough telling them I love them enough.

I have to take a step back and realize that I am not God. Only God has the power to transform and change a person from the inside out. No amount of money, gifts, or things I throw at these people are going to save them or change their lives. The only life preserver I can really truly offer is Jesus.

The only reason I know this to be true is because it is only by God's grace that I have been changed. I am not the same person as I was 10 years ago. My goals, my attitudes, my priorities have all changed. To some extent, this is the natural course of life. But in other ways, I know it is the power of God working in my life.

And I know He can work in their lives too. All I can do is to continue to do the good works that God created me to do. I can love, serve, and encourage but that is where my responsiblity stops. The rest is up to God.

If only I could always remember this...