SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION
Eighty years ago, Hungarian author Frigyes Karinthy wrote a short story
he called “Chain-Links,” in which he proposed the idea that any two individuals
in the world are connected through, at most, five acquaintances. The thesis has
been revived today and is usually described as “Six Degrees of Separation.”
It’s an unproven theory, of course. But there is a dynamic at work that links
us to others around the world: It is the wisdom and providence of God working
through His Word to accomplish His will.
Some years ago, I received a letter from a man whom I had never met
telling me that a note I had sent to a nearby friend had found its way to him,
and it had encouraged him in a time of weariness and dark despair. The friend
to whom I had sent the note sent it to a friend, who, in turn, sent it to a
friend, and so on, until it was sent to the man who wrote to me.
It may be that a simple word offered in love, guided by the wisdom of
God, and borne aloft on the wings of the Spirit will have eternal consequences
in someone’s life.
Should we not then fill ourselves with God’s Word and pass it on to
others with the prayer that God will use it for His intended purposes? (Isa. 55:11).
As the blossom can’t tell what becomes of its fragrance,we can’t tell what becomes of our influence. (RBC)
