As I was studying scriptures the other day I came across then President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s “You Matter to Him” address from October 2011. He describes how we are nothing compared to the billions of creations of the universe, yet we mean a great deal to God as His children. As I thought about the title, “You Matter to Him,” the story of the starfish came to mind. It’s been adapted many times and originates from an essay by Loren Eiseley from 1969 titled “The Star Thrower.”
My favorite adaptation goes something like this:
One day, a man was walking along the beach after a storm. He saw a boy reaching down to the sand, picking up a starfish and very gently throwing it into the ocean.
He asked the boy, “Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?”
“The sun is up, and the tide is going out, and if I do not throw them in they will die.”
“But young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it? You cannot possibly make a difference.”
The boy listened politely, paused and then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves,
saying: “It made a difference for that one.”
My personal application of the story is twofold:
- We want to help each person who needs employment or an employment upgrade, but realize we can’t help everyone. By focusing on the person in front of us, knowing where they are in their job hunt, knowing what tools (resume, networking, interviewing, and other skills) can bless them, we can help them to the next level. When we correctly (using that word loosely) diagnose and actively (we participate) prescribe, we can “make a difference for that one.”
- We need more star throwers. Last Tuesday, we had more walk-in visitors to our employment center offices than we’ve had before. We were able to help all but one of them. Ibrahim came in and introduced himself, but was in line after two others for each of us. He is a French speaker, speaking little English. I booted up a center computer for him, navigated to the employment.churchofjesuschrist.org website (the website has tremendous resources–one of the best kept secrets in the church), switched the language to French, and asked him to browse through the resources while he waited. So, I helped him a little bit. I then met with others, including another French speaker, but who also spoke great English. I had one other visit after and asked the other French speaker if he could spend a few minutes with Ibrahim to help him and let him know how we can help while he waited. He said he would. My next coaching session took awhile. When I ended, Ibrahim had already left. I don’t think I made as much of a difference to him. As much as we try to help each individual feel God’s love and advance to the next step in their job search, there are many more starfish like Ibrahim who need help. I think we’ll plan to let more potential star throwers know about the many blessings they can receive, how star throwers see the hand of God in peoples’ lives every day, and how everything is spiritual unto the Lord, even, and maybe especially, jobs and careers. One of the great blessings in life happens when God uses you to answer someone else’s prayer–star throwers put themselves in a position to be used. We’ll start to focus on the engagement of more star throwers.