The Burden to Do it ALL

I went on a run yesterday morning. It was blustery, even fearsome winds, but warm. I passed a garbage can blown over. While jogging by, I wondered if it was in front of the house where a disabled, wheelchair-bound woman lives. I wasn't certain, but I thought it might be. My conscience continued to nag at me, so I swung around.

I righted the garbage can, and glanced down the street. Nearly every garbage can had been blown over. I could not possibly right them all. I jogged on home, feeling bad about all the cans I didn't stand back up.

Then I had a revelation. Maybe all I was called upon to right was the one I did right. If I felt I had to right ALL of them, I would definitely have been overwhelmed and unable to do so. God was telling me something I very much needed to hear.

I cannot right all the wrongs in the world. I cannot convince every mother I meet on the sidewalks of the abortion center NOT to abort. I cannot meet ALL the needs of ALL the mothers I follow after they choose life. But I can help a few.

God never meant for me to do it ALL. He meant for me to do what I can, which is limited but won't overwhelm and defeat me. He has called ALL of us to action, but not to ALL action.

I felt a burden lift, as I ran by all the garbage cans, blown over and toppled by the ferocious winds. I was not feeling as guilty that I didn't stop to set them all upright. I just felt glad God had convicted me to right the one I had.

Sometimes we don't do ANYTHING because we can't do EVERYTHING. Do SOMETHING for God and the world changes.
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Romans 12:3-5 

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.