An old man was walking along an expansive beach one summer evening. In the distance, he saw a small figure running up to the waters edge, throwing something into the sea and running back onto the beach. After watching the figure repeat this course for some period of time, the old man became curious about what was happening.

Eventually, he approached and found that it was, in fact, a young boy. The boy was bending down, picking up a starfish from the wet surf, running to the waters edge and throwing it as far as he could back into the sea. When the boy returned for his next starfish, the old man stopped him and asked,Young man, may I ask what you are doing exactly?

The young boy replied, Im saving the starfish, mister.

The old man looked around, and, noticing how many starfish were washed up this particular evening on the beach, said But, young man, there are hundreds of starfish on the beach here, and thousands more along the coast. And this is just one beach among hundreds of beaches in this one small area

Surely you dont think that youre really going to make a difference by throwing one starfish at a time back into the sea!

With that, the young boy bent down, picked up another starfish, ran down to the waters edge and threw it, with all the strength that his little frame could manage, as deep into the sea as he could. When he returned, he looked up at the old man and, with a grin, said It made a difference for that one.

As I read this it reminded me of us in recovery. We can't save everyone who comes to us but if we help just one person we've accomplshed our goal. One person at a time one day at a time.