Life Through the Lens: Blessings ripple through a community

This post was contributed by Kevin Schrapel.

Throw a rock in a pond and it makes a splash and a ripple.

This image has been used for years to illustrate the impact one action can have on a group of people or community as the ripple spreads out.

But think about this.

I watched as a gentle rain shower pitter-pattered onto a pond causing not one, but many ripples.

These ripples didn’t just spread out and finally impact the shore; these ripples affected and interacted with each other and caused a more continuous and gentle change across the pond, much like the gentle blessings of love and care Jesus would sprinkle across our community.

He talked of and gave examples of caring, supporting and showering forgiveness on all those he met in his journeying many generations ago.

He stood for what was, and still is, “right and proper and uplifting”.

Jesus does not typically chuck a rock into a pond and cause waves to wash to the edge only.

As I watched the raindrops gently splash onto the pond’s surface, many ripples moved to touch and join each other until the complete surface of the pond became one gentle movement.

What if everyone in a community took the blessing a caring, forgiving God who gently rains down on us, took these blessings, and allowed them to ripple into each other, to ripple into our lives – what might our community become?

Imagine a town where gentle ripples of care, support and forgiveness wash into and join each other, causing a movement which eventually changes the whole pond into something moving and alive and wonderous.

Can’t happen?

Jesus said, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

Try letting Jesus start a ripple of love and care in your life.

Who knows what other lives it might touch and join and change?

Praying that you are blessed with a great week of joy.