I shared this story during our staff devotions this morning. A dear friend shared it with me last year, and I hope it encourages you. Some days it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the amount of "starfish" that I see on the beach in front of me, especially with my students this year. But my prayer is that God will help me to make a difference when and where I can, and that I will rely on Him to do so.
A young girl was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm. When she came to each starfish, she would pick it up, and throw it back into the ocean. People watched her with amusement.
She had been doing this for some time when a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this? Look at this beach! You can’t save all these starfish. You can’t begin to make a difference!”
The girl seemed crushed, suddenly deflated. But after a few moments, she bent down, picked up another starfish, and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she looked up at the man and replied,
“Well, I made a difference to that one.”
