Strolling along the beach, the little boy got out ahead of his father and suddenly noticed the sand was covered in starfish. The tide had gone out and stranded them by the dozens. The lad began to scramble around, and he picked them up as fast as he could and threw them back into the water.
“There are too many!”, his father shouted. “You’ll never make a difference.” The boy reached down, picked up a starfish and flung it into the water and said, “I made a difference for that one.”
I don’t know about you, but I sometimes need to be reminded of the one. When I look around and see all the hurting and desperate people we serve, the vastness of it can be paralyzing. The overwhelming feeling that there are too many can make a person want to give up.
But then I read about Jesus in the Gospels. He spent time with individuals. He pushed through the crowds to the person to have an actual conversation with them. He even scolded the disciples occasionally for trying to shield Him.
It’s obvious that Jesus knew who He was there for. Yes, he preached to the crowds and He led the multitudes, but He always had time for the individual. Even when He fed the hungry 5,000, He didn’t just wave His hand and make them all full. Instead, every person in the crowd that day got their own, individual portion of food. Maybe the disciples needed to see that this is how it is done. Each one reaching one.
And the icing on the cake when it comes to helping others is that we receive joy and satisfaction from doing what God created us to do … serving others.
When I get overwhelmed with issues like homelessness and want to shut down because I am just one person and it seems like the problem is too big, I remember what Jesus did. His compassion for the crowds resulted in time for the individual. One godly woman said it this way, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”
