Print or Email

TheDiscipleMD

Once upon a time there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his journal writing.  He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.  One day he was walking along the shore.  As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer.  As he got closer he saw that it was a young man and he wasn’t dancing, but instead he was reaching down on the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.  As he got closer he called out, “Good Morning!  What are you doing?

The young man paused, looked up and replied, “Throwing starfish in the ocean.  The sun is up, and the tide is going out and if I don’t throw them in they’ll die.”

“But young man, don’t you realize that there are miles and miles of beach with starfish all along it.  You can’t possibly make a difference!”

The young man listened politely, then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves and said, “It made a difference for that one.”  (Author Unknown)

And so I would encourage all of us to remember the “one” and not become discouraged when the task at hand is large. After all you and I are “the one” who were picked up off the shore at one time or the other in our lives. As we go about our daily service let us be not discouraged. While the world seems to be unaffected by our deeds we can make the difference to “the one.” And “the one” is of great value in the eyes of the Lord. For:

“…What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost…” (Luke 15:4)