what can I do?

I just watched a TED talk on slavery. There’s a part of me that wishes I hadn’t because now, I know, and now, I feel so helpless. More than 27million people enslaved in the world today…some sold into slavery for as little as $18. Sex and textile slavery are probably the most commonly known, but there are heart-wrenching images of children carrying bricks on their heads and stones twice their weight on their backs…!

How fortunate I have been! My parents always managed to put food on the table; they valued education and ensured that I received one; from my youth, I was introduced to a sin-pardoning Savior who loves me and has always been with me. Why such fortune, such freedom, bestowed on me when children, all over the world, are literally born into slavery even today?

Organizations like Free the Slaves and Love146 are doing their part. But aside from supporting them, what can I do?

And slavery is just one problem…

Pondering the magnitude and diversity of vices and the multi-layered factors involved in their resolution, I threw up my heart’s hands in surrender. This is not a problem I can solve. You know what would be the best solution? If those slave owners and money-hungry-manipulators would just be converted!

But what can I do to even begin showing Jesus to the mine-owner in Ghana when I’ve never even been to the country?

A little over a year ago, I read a book entitled “A long way Gone” about child soldiers in Sierra Leone and I remember thinking how many things there are so wrong in this world. I was sitting in my room wondering what difference little me can make when I came across this quote:

“Our time here is short. We can pass through this world but once; as we pass along, let us make the most of life. The work to which we are called does not require wealth or social position or great ability. It requires a kindly, self-sacrificing spirit and a steadfast purpose. A lamp, however small, if kept steadily burning, may be the means of lighting many other lamps. Our sphere of influence may seem narrow, our ability small, our opportunities few, our acquirements limited; yet wonderful possibilities are ours through a faithful use of the opportunities…” MH 355

We are to draw courage from the fact that although our efforts seem small and, at times, meaningless in the grand scheme of things, our labor is not in vain in the Lord!