a drop in the bucket.

It gets overwhelming.  The need.

Just thinking through my prayer list right now, it can get to be too much to think about ... or pray about.  So many needs.  So much hurting. 

And then how little it seems we can do to change those situations or those people.  Ahhhhh, it can be overwhelming at times.

I don't do overwhelming (obviously ... or I would not have melted down this weekend).  I just shut down when things get to be too much or I don't know what to do.

That's kind of my standard mode of operation.

But I was reminded in reading through Primal that being overwhelmed or the vastness of the need can't stop us from doing what we can, where we are, with what we have.  And not knowing what to do can't let us put off doing something.

The Talmud says:
Whoever destroys one life, it is as though he has destroyed the whole world; and whoever saves one life, it is as though he has saved the whole world.

Mark Batterson says ...
Don't let what you cannot do keep you from doing what you CAN.

This is similar to what Andy Stanley said at Catalyst last fall ... do for the ONE what you wish you could do for the many.

The needs always gonna be great, I fear.  Some days we're gonna be more overwhelmed than others.  But if we consider Christ's mandate to care for the sick and clothe the naked and feed the hungry, we've got to start somewhere with someone.  It may seem like a drop in the bucket ... but that bucket gets full one drop at a time.