We live in one of the most incredible times in human history.

It is hard to know this by the daily news reports that focus on a very narrow range of negative stories taking place in the world. These stories feature the ideological conflicts that breed a kind of hopelessness and personal doubt that our lives matter.

The implication is that we need to choose to join one or the other sides in these conflicts. In doing so, we marginalize our capacity to make a difference.

What if, however, we decide to listen to both sides or all sides. What if we listened for the good and the reasons to hope. What if, then, we decide that there is a third or fourth or a fifth way to look at things.

We decide that we have our own perspective on what is taking place in the world. It is not some hope that pacifies us, but rather energizes us to take initiative to make a difference.

This is the beginning of knowing how your life matters. When you know it does, then you can find reasons to believe that your actions matter.

One of the benefits of seeing and believing that your life matters is that then you can begin to see that we are living in one of the most incredible times in human history. Here is why I believe this.

One of the most important sources of insight into what is happening in our world is the Gapminder Foundation. Begun by the late researcher Hans Rosling, this organization has been looking at statistics that demonstrate the health and progress of the whole world.

One of those measures is called Extreme Poverty. A person in Extreme Poverty lives on less than $2 per day. In 1966, one half of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty. Today, less than 10% are. This is a remarkable change.*

If the world can change so dramatically without any of us knowing it, imagine what can happen when we decide to join in.

What is it that concerns you the most? Is it something that you lie awake in bed thinking about?

This emotion that you feel may be pointing you in a direction where you can make a difference. This first indicator may not be the ultimate direction for your belief in yourself, but it is a place to start.

A decade ago some people at the church where my family attended became concerned about the homeless. Specifically, they had learned that all the shelters in our city were closed on Saturday afternoons during the winter months. This small group of concerned members went to the elders of the church to see if a room in the basement of the church that had an outside entrance could be opened up for a couple hours on Saturday afternoons.

What came to be known as Saturday Sanctuary was born.

It began as a place to get out of the cold, have a cup of coffee, a cookie or some popcorn and have some fellowship. Over the years, the program moved into the fellowship hall of the church and began to serve a hot meal. No longer was it just a warm sanctuary off the street for homeless people. They came along with residents from a retirement home, families from a poor neighborhood near-by, and people traveling through town.

A simple desire to address one simple problem grew beyond meeting a humanitarian need into a gathering of the broader community to share a meal, talk with new friends, play chess, watch a movie or take a nap.

The impact transcended the original motivation. This is a picture of what is possible in the future. An idea to make a difference starts small and then grows to change the lives of everyone involved.

If the people who had the original idea had tried to own it as their own, it would have failed. Instead, they took the initiative. Then, others join in and shared their ideas of how to have a deeper impact on a wider community.

People from the congregation and from the neighborhood found that this was no longer just a program of the church. It was the formation of a human community, sharing for a few hours each Saturday afternoon an experience that many lacked the other days of the week.

It was a picture of what is possible when people discover the reason that their lives matter.

I meet people all the time who have had some change of perception about who they are and what their purpose is. Often, they describe this change as a spiritual one. It is an interesting turn of phrase because I find that it is a highly personalized description of their experience.

What links all these encounters together are two things. One is that their life matters in ways that they had never seen before. And, that their life has become to have a transcendent quality to it. It is no longer small or confined to their former perception of themselves. They are now beginning to see a bigger picture of what is possible through their lives.

Like the change in the rate of Extreme Poverty, the change in how we understand spirituality is an indication that the world is changing in a dramatic way. It gives me great hope because I find that in order to become spiritually motivated, you have to look at the world differently.

You can’t be a pessimist. You can’t be an ideologue. You can’t be just a critic of people and institutions. You have to be a living human being who takes initiative to make a difference that matters.

The only reason that you need to believe in yourself is the one that says I want to make a difference in this one place, to change this one thing.

Start with small steps and learn as you go. There is no perfect plan before you begin. There is no way to know everything you need to know at any point in time. All you need to know is what you learn as you go.

Think of it as “just-in-time” education.

I am convinced that we are all in transition into a new era of human endeavor. All the conflict that we are experiencing is a product of trying to hang on to ways that used to work, but no longer do.

What can’t be sustained, will not be sustained.

The result is that the force of change in our world is carrying us into new situations that are opportunities for us to make a difference that matters. You do not need permission to make that difference. All you need is a simple reason to believe that you can make a difference… then start.

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*To know more about world trends, read The Gapminder Foundation book, Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About The World – And Why Things Are Better Than You Think, written by Hans Rosling with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Ronnlund.