One Person at a Time

After my oldest daughter adopted the first of four children, she said about the boy who was to be my first grandson,  "I can't save all the children of the world, but I saved this one."  Her words have been remembered many times when what seemed to be an impossible need stood before me.  Jesus did not feed all the hungry people of His world and neither can we in our world.  What we can do is make a difference.  Surely, this is why many volunteer and serve non profit groups in our communities.  Some are focused on the needs of abused women, or people struggling with addiction, or something as basic as giving hungry people food.    

There are people all around us who are seeking to make a difference one person at a time.  This is the goal of most non profits groups that have service as the reason for their existence and certainly it is the goal of so many churches who provide niche ministries such as an after school feeding ministry, or providing quilts for cancer patients, or building handicap ramps for wheel chair patients.  It is a good thing that there are many servants who refuse to become overwhelmed by the magnitude of some need and instead make a decision to make a difference one person at a time.   

It is also true that taking care of the needs of those around is not just the task of a few, or the non-profit groups, or the churches, but each one of us.  Most of us need look no further than our own streets to find people who fall through the cracks of groups and agencies organized to help.  If we know someone who is struggling to make ends meet, or who is living with the pressure of being a 24/7 caregiver, or who lives alone and is in need of a listening ear, then we know where to go to serve.  Jesus used the model of washing feet to speak to us our own calling to serve others.  "...you also should so as I have done to you."  (John 13:15).  None of us are exempt from this call to wash feet, or to make a difference one person at a time.