ISBC 36 - The Practice of the Big Three

Chapter 36 of Hope: A User's Manual

Gregory Ellison, activist and professor at Emory University, likes to quote his auntie, who’d say, “Greg, I may not be able to change the world, but I can change the three feet around me.”¹

We have choices we can make about those three feet around us. 

In the case of what MaryAnn shares in this chapter, she shares about her “big three” that, if she is neglecting them, she will have a hard time accessing hope in her life.  I love the three that she shares (beauty, relationships, and action) but I also think that it is important for each of us to find our own big two, or three, or five.  I have some that I share in common with MaryAnn but I also have ones that are specific to me.  All, however, are ones that I have grown into as I’ve tried some things and left others behind.  What they all have in common is that they require choices.   MaryAnn has to choose to make or find beauty, to be in community, to be taking action.  I have to choose to practice the things that keep hope stirring within me.

I saw this collection on medical center’s wall while I was waiting for an appointment for one of my children.  They are all beautiful statements in and of themselves, but each one of them requires a choice.  It is a choice to believe.  It is a choice to love.  It is a choice to imagine.  It is a choice to think twice.  It is a choice to find beauty.  It is a choice to be vibrant.  Goodness though...what would life be like if those were the things we chose to do on a regular basis?

And as MaryAnn shares about the 3 foot circle² around us, think of how that 3 foot circle of those choices can make a difference in a person who is touched by that circle.  What would she be able to do in making a similar choice and her circle connecting with another person’s circle.  How would they take what was received and allow it to spread out to another’s?  And then that connects to the man next to them and it continues.

So what might be in your big three?  Or big four?  Or maybe even simply your big one.  It doesn’t have to be a lot, but can even be one thing of an intentional choice to stir up hope.

Grace, Peace, Love, and Joy,
Ed

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1. McKibben Dana, MaryAnn. Hope: A User's Manual (p. 154). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.

2.

Carrie Newcomer

also sings a song about this quote from Gregory Ellison called “Three Foot or So”. You can take the song in by clicking here.