Concern Yourself With What You Have Dominion Over

By Ryan Mifflin

All week long I’ve been thinking about something a homeless man told me last Saturday (September 12th) on our weekly Homeless Outreach trip to St. Louis.

My friend’s name is “Old School”. He’s 54. Of all the times I’ve visited with him, he never accepts a care pack. He always says he has what he needs in regards to food and toiletries. The first time I met him he said he didn’t need a pack, but asked if we had any work that he could do for us.

On this visit, Old School thanked us for coming to visit him and his peers each week and commented on how much of a difference it can make to just brighten someone’s day. He said such a visit might just be the spark of hope that enables someone to get back on their feet.

I told him that was our goal. And I told him that we understood that we’d never end homelessness, but we just wanted to give someone a brighter day.

His response to my comment about not being able to end homelessness was, “You don’t have dominion over that”.

That seemed like an obvious enough statement and I didn’t give it much more thought. But that line has echoed in my head all week, over and over. “You don’t have dominion over that”.

Wednesday, my wife and fellow Dirty Roots Revolution board member, Amber, and I spent the day at the Greenville College opportunities fair. Among other services, we were there to promote the DRR and what we’re all about.

It had been a while since I had gotten the chance to visit with folks who were unfamiliar with our organization. And, more importantly, it had been a while since I’d had the opportunity to truly talk about our mission and vision.

Above all, the Dirty Roots Revolution exists to empower people with the knowledge that THEY CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. That the small things you do MATTER. Maybe we can’t change the whole world; but we can definitely change it for one person, one moment at a time.

As I was talking to one of the college students, Old School’s comment came to mind. And the beautiful simplicity of it hit me. I was almost overwhelmed with the emotion.

You don’t have to end homelessness. You don’t have to change the whole world. You don’t have to fix all the problems. “You don’t have dominion over that”.

Part of my emotion was validation that the Dirty Roots Revolution is providing a service to our “audience” and supporters. Part of what we do – and are working hard to do more of – is to raise awareness of issues, causes, and organizations that we believe in.

Over time, and as we have more resources at our disposal, we want to share with you ways you can make an impact. Organizations you can follow, donate to, pray for, and help with.

We encourage you to select ones that move you. And get behind them as you see fit.

And never EVER worry that your contributions aren’t enough!!!

If you are a person of any kind of faith, prayer (or meditation, or lighting a candle, or good vibes, or whatever your “thing” is) is a perfectly acceptable contribution. I would encourage you not to let that become a comfortable buffer, though. If you can do more than pray, please do!

No financial contribution (to the Dirty Roots Revolution or any other organization) is ever too small!

For the Dirty Roots Revolution specifically, no amount of donated goods is too small. If you can purchase a couple of 75-cent travel size shampoos that we can put in our Homeless Outreach care packs, we’ll consider you just as revolutionary as the person who’s able to donate $500.

We have a luncheon scheduled on September 29th, which will be an opportunity to introduce the Dirty Roots Revolution to the local ministerial alliance, representatives from various local social service agencies, school officials, and public dignitaries. We have folks who are donated bags of salad, loaves of garlic bread, and deserts. These aren’t expensive items. But they all contribute to the greater cause. This luncheon will hopefully lead to fruitful partnerships for the Dirty Roots Revolution, the other organizations represented, and hopefully for our community at large. And the lady who baked one pie for desert did just as much for the cause as the person who donated stacks of boxes full of items for our care packs.

Your life has value. What you do matters. The small gifts you share, the small actions you take, and the small differences you seek to make, ALL matter. They ALL make an impact. You may not see it, but they combine with others and add up. One pebble thrown into a lake makes small ripples. But a whole bunch of pebbles, stones, rocks, and boulders being thrown into the lake makes WAVES. And waves are powerful. They move stuff.

Nothing is too little – unless you have too much and you aren’t giving/doing enough.

But if you do what you can in the name of things you believe in, you, my friend, are a true revolutionary.

The Dirty Roots Revolution pledges to help you do this. It is our mission, our vision, our dream, and our goal, to enable and empower you to make a difference in this world.

We ask that you believe that you CAN make a difference, and we promise to do our part to help you do just that.

We don’t have dominion over the whole world. So we don’t need to worry about that.

You and I can’t give enough to solve all of the huge problems. We just need to give what we CAN. We can’t do everything. We just need to worry about what we CAN do.

Let’s all go and do what we CAN.