Want to Change the World? Invite People Over

Though it’s the politicians and policy makers are the ones who make the laws, and implement the laws, it’s often us who actually do the work of bearing up our people every day. We – everyday women - are the ones who raise the babies and do the laundry. We go to work and plan the birthday parties and organize the funerals and make the sandwiches. It’s us, the ones “on the ground,” that are actually making decisions that change the lives of the people around us in ways that feel big and important. WE, as wives and daughters and mothers and sisters and friends – we have an enormous power to change our world. It is when we truly connect, and live side by side, supporting each other, that our neighborhoods and villages begin to change.

I believe that you have the unique power to step up, step out, and lead the women around you into life-giving community. 

And yet, so often, we just sit and wait. We wait for a group to start up, or our church to hire a women’s ministry director. We sign a petition, or like a post on Facebook, but in the meantime, we sit awkwardly side by side at Tae Kwon Do, waiting for our kids without speaking. We share a good political article about understanding the conflict over Jerusalem, but in the meantime we’ve never spoken to our co-worker who actually grew up in Pakistan.

If you create a space in your home - your real life home – and invite real life women to connect, you can spark the best kind of real change in your little community. It’s when people actually talk to one another, get curious about each other’s differences, and start to care about each other, that we can make some headway.

All this sounds great but a little nebulous, right? Easy to write, harder to do. So, like…do I invite people over for dinner all the time? Just say, “Hey come to my house so I can change the world?” Nobody wants to be weird; I get it! People can sometimes feel a little odd if you come at them like, “Come be part of my project.”

We need something simple, a reason to gather that is both fun and inspiring, that doesn’t overcomplicate but instead creates an open space for people to explore and connect. This is what I’ve been pioneering for the past few months – I have a group of women who meet to make a craft each month.

There are so many parallels between making art and making friends – it takes patience and practice, openness and courage, and the results are beautiful. We don’t require sharing or connecting, but we invite it.

I want to give you the chance to try this, too. Gathering to make a craft is the perfect reason to make friends on purpose! Check it out!