Genuine world peace sometimes feels as though it’s just an impossible dream. There’s so much conflict in the world, so much upheaval, there doesn’t appear to be enough room left for real peace.
However, individual people and organisations all around the world are trying, are working towards a genuine peace. For sure, it doesn’t make the front pages of our newspapers as much as we’d like. But that may well be as much to do with the fact that bad news and conflict sell more than good news and peace.
There is much still to do. And the sheer size of the task is overwhelming. But that should not, must not, stop us from making an effort. As an individual it sounds impossible; but once we’re able to look around and start to see what others are doing, and then joining our efforts with their efforts, it doesn’t seem quite so daunting.
Reminds me of the Starfish story:
The Starfish
I awoke early, as I often did, just before sunrise to walk by the ocean’s edge and greet the new day. As I moved through the misty dawn, I focused on a faint, far away motion. I saw a youth, bending and reaching and flailing arms, dancing on the beach, no doubt in celebration of the perfect day soon to begin.
As I approached, I sadly realized that the youth was not dancing to the day, but rather bending to sift through the debris left by the night’s tide, stopping now and then to pick up a starfish and then standing, to heave it back into the sea. I asked the youth the purpose of the effort. “The tide has washed the starfish onto the beach and they cannot return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun rises, they will die, unless I throw them back to the sea.”
As the youth explained, I surveyed the vast expanse of beach, strectching in both directions beyond my sight. Starfish littered the shore in numbers beyond calculation. The hopelessness of the youth’s plan became clear to me and I countered, “But there are more starfish on this beach than you can ever save before the sun is up. Surely you cannot expect to make a difference.”
The youth paused briefly to consider my words, bent to pick up a starfish and threw it as far as possible. Turning to me he simply said, “I made a difference to that one.”
I left the boy and went home, deep in thought of what the boy had said. I returned to the beach and spent the rest of the day helping the boy throw starfish in to the sea.
If enough of us start to throw starfish back into the ocean we can make a difference: if enough of us start to do even small things towards peace we can make a difference. Don’t be overwhelmed by the hugeness of the task, just concentrate upon the bit that you can affect. It’s all too easy to be overwhelmed, and do nothing; but every little bit can make a difference — especially when added to lots of other little bits.
God our Saviour,
look on this wounded world
in pity and in power;
hold us fast to your promises of peace
won for us by your Son,
our Saviour Jesus Christ.Additional Collect for The Third Sunday after Trinity
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council
About Paul Sibley
Andrew Gosden (now 18) has been missing from his Doncaster home since 14 September 2007. The search continues.
Elizabeth Jackson on 