Recently I started a new job working with domestic violence survivors. I have done quite a bit of advocacy over the last five years, so this field isn't new to me, but I still have the same emotional reaction that I did as an intern in college - an overwhelming sense of the impossible. There are so many, many victims that it begins to feel like there is no way to make a dent, to make a difference. The average career of individuals working in advocacy is two years, and its no wonder. With odds so insurmountable, why keep trying?
This week as I drove an addict who had been brutally assaulted to a safe place for the night, I couldn't help but think, "will this moment, this small mercy make a difference to someone who will very likely end up back on the streets tomorrow morning?"
It seemed like my assistance was a mere match in a stadium of darkness, a light that would do very little and burn out very fast.
Sunday night found my husband and I watching the movie "Hacksaw Ridge", a blockbuster based on the true story of Seventh Day Adventist, Desmond Doss, a medic in WWII that refused to carry a weapon into battle because he wanted to save lives, not take them. Placed in one of the most dangerous battlefront locations in Japan, Doss single handedly saved 75 soldiers who had been left for dead on an escarpment under heavy oppositional fire without a defensive weapon. During the 12 hours he was rescuing wounded men and lowering them by rope down a cliff to safety he reportedly prayed, "Lord help me save just one more".
What a beautiful prayer. Lord help me save just one more.
With hundreds of casualties it would have been easy for Doss to think, "what difference can I make" and follow the rest of his division down the ropes to safety. Instead he recognized the value of a single life.
Talk about conviction.
In a world that seems to be going to hell in a hand basket, I have to ask myself: am I retreating down the rope to a comfortable life or pushing forward with everything I have because that one other life matters?
The addict I drove earlier in the week may not even remember that she had a warm place to sleep after a hellish night but what if she did? Do I believe that she is worth the risk? Do I believe that she is valuable, deserving of this small act of mercy?
“What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? ”
God leaves the many and goes back for the one. He has bestowed the ultimate mercy on the most hopeless cases.
Whether you find yourself as the single sheep who doesn't believe you are worth saving or as the overwhelmed medic who doesn't know if you are making a difference, remember this - there is immeasurable value in one life. In your life. In that addict's life. In your neighbor's life. In your enemy's life. In a stranger's life.
We, who were ourselves eternally saved by the sacrifice of another's life, should not doubt the significance of an act of love to a singular soul.
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
I challenge you to accept the love of God towards you, to embrace His unimaginable care for YOUR life, His offer to call you 'my child'.
I challenge you to pray, "Lord help me save just one more", to recalibrate your heart to recognize the value of loving even one more person.