There’s a lovely story that makes the rounds every so often of a person who is throwing stranded starfish back into the ocean. There are apparently lots of stranded starfish on this beach, and someone asks why the person is bothering since they cannot hope to make any difference in the number of rescued starfish. The reply is but it makes a difference to the one I rescued.
Now outside of the sheer imagination required to visualize the number of stranded starfish necessary for this to be an impactful story, I think there is an interesting observation and lesson here.
The lesson is pretty obvious in that we generally make an impact in individual lives rather in an entire crowd. So make the local impact! Help the one right in front of you. This is also the logic behind “rescue” appeals whether it is for dogs or for starving people. Show just a single individual because we all can help one. We are often overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of many of these kinds of situations but not by an individual in the situation.
The observation is that sometimes we get caught up in believing we are called to rescue the entire beach of starfish and so, instead of helping in small ways we waste time and energy and opportunity trying to create ways to rescue ALL the starfish. And so we are distracted away from doing what we can.
The trap can become a trap of comparison of ministries. Well, Billy Graham preached to thousands of people, Mother Teresa helped hundreds of homeless, sick individuals, so unless I can make my ministry Big it’s not valuable or enough. I’m missing my calling.
Remember however, to the one you help, your ministry is enough. What if that one, that one starfish, that one person, is exactly who/what you have been prepared to help?
Can you be satisfied with your place in His Kingdom if it doesn’t look Big? What might be your Ministry of Enough?
Just Sayin' 