My church has a phrase the our pastor has been repeating over and over
and over this year. And it's a good one: what good can I do today?
He uses that to spur action and the people that go to church with me
to reach out more into our community with the love of Jesus. To do
more things day-to-day rather than having some overarching goal that
nobody ever reaches.
It's funny because this question fits with so much of the other
teaching and encouraging that's happening around us. A lot of the
gurus and articles that I seek and stumble across on the Internet and
even the memes that I see as I scroll through social media encourage
us to do something. If you can't clean the whole kitchen then just
sweep the floor. If you can't do the whole project just do one thing
that moves you toward it. If you can't read the whole book read a
page or two. Forward motion no matter how fast will get you there
eventually.
So the question "what good can I do today" helps me watch throughout
the day for opportunities to help somebody. I pick up a piece of
trash that somebody dropped or threw. Because if I do that and others
do that then we won't have to walk around in trash the way we often do
in our neighborhood and society.
I smile at people. Scary, I know, but depending on the person I almost
always get a smile in return and science has shown us the if you smile
your brain thinks you're happy and you start to feel happier. Happier
people make for a better society in general. And forget about
society, community is what I'm talking about. A happier community
makes for a safer community. And a better environment for children
and families to learn and grow rather than be uptight and angry and
nervous.
A few years ago at my grandmother's funeral my father asked me to read
some of the memories and stories that family members had pulled
together to share at her memorial service. I'm really not the kind of
person that likes to get up in front of everybody and talk, but I can
do it and I can communicate okay. And because I'm a good son I told
my father yes I would do it.
One of the stories that a family member shared seemed hokey but it
fits with the "what good can I do today" question. It was the story
about a little boy standing on the beach picking up starfish and
throwing them into the ocean one at a time. A man walking on the
beach was watching the boy do this and got curious. So he went to the
little boy inside or asked him what are you doing? The little boy
explained that the starfish got stuck up here after the tide went out
and he said "I'm throwing them back into the ocean so they can live."
The man looked up and down the beach and saw that there were thousands
of starfish on the beach. And that they were getting baked in the
sun. The man looked at the little boy and said "But there are so
many. There is no way that you can save all of these starfish. How
is what you're doing actually going to help them?" And the little boy
responded "I don't know, but I sure helped this one!" And he threw it
into the ocean.
All that may not be exactly how the story went, but it's meant a lot
to me over the years. I reflected on it quite a bit and with this
question that our pastor has us asking ourselves think about that
story a lot there so much in our world that could be better how is
there anything that we can do to change it? I don't know, but the
good that I can do today helps that one situation or person!
