How to Make a Difference in the World

This post was originally written in February 2012.  These thoughts have been on my mind again recently, and I hope they will be an encouragement to you.

It seems like just recently I have really been struck with the incredible needs in the world around me. One of the things that influenced me was this post regarding adoption and the needs of orphaned children around the world. Of course I wish I could help every single one of them. Then I started thinking of villages in Haiti where people are dying because they don't have clean water to drink. I want to dig a well for every single one of them. Then I started thinking about the homeless right here in America – there are multitudes of them in every city and even right here in my own little town. I want to help them all! What about the nursing homes I have visited where there are not enough staff members to properly care for the residents? Many of them don't get proper nutrition because they cannot feed themselves and the staff members are too busy to do it. They lie in bed begging someone to come change their soiled pants because they are starting to get sore, but are only replied to with, “We'll get to you later.” I want to stay there all day and personally tend to all of their needs!

I could continue to go on listing needs – desperate, heart-breaking needs of people all around the world. I want to do something – to make a big difference somehow. But the whole world is full of needs! There's no way I can possibly do anything that will help!

Then, it dawned on me. I have had the attitude that since the needs are too great for me to fulfill, then I will just throw up my hands in despair and say, “I guess there's nothing I can do about it other than hope that the Lord will come back quickly and redeem the world from the curse of sin.”

I was reminded of this story by Loren Eisley. I'm sure many of you have heard it:

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed
a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.
Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”
The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean.
The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”
“Son,” the man said, “Don't you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can't make a difference!”
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish,
and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said , “I made a difference for that one.”

I may not be able to make a difference in every person's life who needs help, but I can make a difference in someone's life. That will be one more person who can be shown the love of Christ who would otherwise never know it. Just think! When I get to heaven one day I will be so ashamed at all the lives I didn't influence just because I wasn't trying, thinking that it was impossible to make a difference.

I don't know what God has planned for my life, but I know he wants me to do something more than what I've been doing. I am praying specifically that He would lead me to the one thing that I can do to make a difference.

In the meantime, I have three little people for whom I will strive to make a big difference every day. I have a husband for whom I will make a difference every day. There are store cashiers, church members, neighbors, and numerous other people with whom I come into contact on a regular basis. Am I making a difference for them? Am I doing all that I can to help them both physically and spiritually?

I am excited to see what doors God will open as I do my part to meet the needs of others. If we all do our small part, just think how many more people can be helped than if we all throw up our hands in defeat!

You may not be able to make a difference for them all, but you can make a difference for one.