The Florda beach.
Ahhhh, just typing those words bring about a sense of calm, not to mention the joy that comes from looking at the soft sand and gorgeous light (okay, and precious little girl) in the picture above.
This memory was born from getting to attend the wedding of a good friend a few years ago. It's the trip that allowed us to add the couple days of Disney I wrote about here. As we were long time friends of the groom, Mark was a groomsman and I was there just as a guest. However, to my surprise and pleasure, my past wedding-coordinating experience had reason to be needed and I got to play a role in the wedding, after all.
I was happy to just be useful. The bride, however, who is gracious and kind, insisted on giving me a necklace for my time. I tried to refuse, saying no gift was necessary, but I could see she really wanted to give it, so I accepted gratefully.
In keeping with the beach location, the necklace I received was a beautiful silver, sparkly starfish. The piece of jewelry was lovely in its own right, but the bride, who I was just getting to know, could not have known that I love starfish! I don't love starfish in a 'collect them, wear them, decorate with them' sort of way. I just deep down have a fascination with the creatures because of a story I heard long ago that sticks with me right down in my soul and has had provided the inspiration I have needed to draw upon at uncertain moments.
To close this Memory Monday, let me share that story with you and ask you, please share this post with others if you know someone who might need this story today.
The Starfish Story
A young man is walking along the ocean and sees a beach on which thousands and thousands of starfish have washed ashore. Further along he sees an old man, walking slowly and stooping often, picking up one starfish after another and tossing each one gently into the ocean.
“Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?,” he asks.
“Because the sun is up and the tide is going out and if I don’t throw them further in they will die.”
“But, old man, don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it! You can’t possibly save them all, you can’t even save one-tenth of them. In fact, even if you work all day, your efforts won’t make any difference at all.”
The old man listened calmly and then bent down to pick up another starfish and threw it into the sea. “It made a difference to that one.”