The Starfish

I’m in the Dominican Republic and am seeing so much. It’s overwhelming to be in a place that has so many needs. To see people living in such tough circumstances, to see children without a home, to learn of the challenges they face is trying to get clean water – overwhelming. You can’t help but ask what difference, if any, am I really making. Two of the families gathered up yesterday and talked about this (we both have 3 children with us between the ages of 11 – 17). My friend read us a story from the book “Hole in the Gospel” about some starfish. The story is about a guy walking down the beach. He comes upon thousands of starfish that have been washed up on the shore. He sees so many starfish that are going to die and it saddens him. He sits down and puts his head in his hands and thinks about the sadness in the situation. He hears some noise and when he looks up he sees someone there throwing the starfish back into the water. He asks, “What are you doing, don’t you see there are thousands and thousands of starfish that have been washed up – what you are doing really isn’t going to make a difference.” The other person picks up a starfish, throws it back in the water and says, “It made a difference to that one” My son reminded me of a Mother Teresa quote that we had talked about before. The quote goes something like this, “We might feel like what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean but that ocean is different because of that missing drop.” We can’t turn a blind eye to those whose needs are so much greater than ours. The most important thing we can do is share God’s love with them. What that looks like for each of us might be different. What I’m learning is that the best way to help them doesn’t mean just giving them a handout. It means working with the locals to get a plan that allows them access to the basic necessities and gives them a plan to support themselves and their family. Please take the time to look into the awesome ministries that are reaching out to those in need. Find one that resonates with you and do something. If we all throw a few starfish back into the water we will make a huge difference!!