You

ere was Pike River mines – our hearts sunk as the hours, then days, then weeks, now months ticked by. Then there were the floods and fires that ravaged Australia, then there were the earthquakes in Haiti, Brazil, our own Christchurch and now more terror in Japan. For us personally, 1 km either way, two beautiful women and one lovely child, had their lives cruelly taken by people they knew. What on this earth is one to do?

It is easy to grow despondent or ambivalent. To cling to what you have and put your head in the sand, is a normal and self-preserving response. So is rushing everywhere, trying to save the world and exhausting yourself in the process.

This week it all caved in on me, I felt like the things I did for people were a drop in a very huge bucket. I wished I could have some sort of super-powers that enabled me to reach out and fix this broken world. I ended up in depression, and staring into space. My own problems, so small in the equation, were magnified hugely because I just didn’t feel I could cope.

Then I realised something: You and I can’t save the world – it is not our job or within our reach BUT we can have a tremendous impact just by doing what is within our capability to do. If we all do this, this world will change and change for the better.

At the very least we can pray. We can pour forth the heartbreak and have it moulded into something beautiful.

This one quote from Helen Keller, provided kindly by my friend Claire, made me realise how truly amazing we are, how truly amazing YOU can be:

“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.”

YOU, my friend, are amazing.

Love,

Annie :)

P.S. The amazing artwork is my husband's, Andrew Killick.