But I think our walk towards sustainability supposed to be challenging. If we're not challenged and uncomfortable, it probably isn't having any effect (and obviously some small changes can be extremely uncomfortable!).

Looking at the bigger picture, I am tempted to see how much needs to be changed and to give up. When I compare my life to the challenges of the gospel, I fall far short. When I consider the pain and suffering and environmental damage I am causing, it is hard not to have a kind of suicidal mentality – that the 3 billion people in poverty would probably be far better off if I didn't exist. I want to make the big changes, but I cannot. So I remain frustrated that my best efforts are small (and yes, they're something, but in the scheme of things are little more than rearranging deckchairs on the titanic) and pray for strength to keep going.

But, I think the best I can hope for is to make my own economy in my own little part of the world more just. And it's not just about buying fair trade coffee and sugar. It is shopping local, but it is also not shopping as much. It is buying fresh, sustainable produce, but it is also about growing my own. It is about reaching out to the community, but it is also about sitting on my front stop, engaging with neighbors and sharing what we don't need with them (and vice versa).

I get frustrated some times when people (not you) talk about huge, transformative changes but don't even know that the person who lives next to them needs this or that.

The person who came to mind when I read your post was Rosa Parks. Rosa didn't know that she would have a pivotal role in ending segregation when she sat down on the bus… she was simply tired, in every way, and sat down.

And the people who began to strike and protest after… they didn't know that they would have a pivotal role in ending segregation. They simply stood for a sister in the name of justice.

But none of their actions would have been possible if so many of their predecessors hadn't made the small changes they were able make, if some hadn't martyred themselves in the name of justice, if some hadn't become refugees and moved north.

It took all kinds of changes, by all kinds of people.

(I'm not trying to say that Fair Trade Certified has divine sanction — but we certainly are commanded to love our neighbor and the fair trade movement has convinced me that it is one way to concretely love my neighbor.)

Well, that's one thing when we're talking about paying an extra dollar a pound for coffee or changing out my light bulbs. That's easy stuff (which isn't to say it isn't good and valuable as far as it goes!). I don't think I'm strong enough to keep enduring with hard stuff out of sheer obedience. I think I need to see some results. Not necessarily the entire overthrow of evil and establishment of God's reign on earth, but I gotta see SOMETHING. I need that to keep going.

I agree that "well I can't do everything so why bother doing anything" is no way to respond — but I will also recognize that to explicitly articulate that "Well I know there are tremendous needs out there, and my significant effort leads to a small drop in the bucket of the overall need" is really hard. It is where we need to be, I'm convinced, but it's a REALLY hard place to be.

Was Jeremiah's goal achievable? He spoke to the nation of Israel, that was headed for exile. Still he was obedient to G-d's call on his life.

I think