by Steve Laube

During a recent vacation we visited a place in Alaska called the Tracy Arm Fjord. The picture above was one that I took during that visit.

As we past through these amazing waters it was bitter cold (note the icebergs in the water), in the early morning around 6 a.m., and with a chilly wind to accompany us. But rather than be frozen by the weather I was mesmerized by the number of waterfalls along this 30 mile long fjord. There were hundreds of them. Most did not have a name because there were so many. In the above photo, if you click to make it larger, there are at least three, if not more.

And then it struck me. The words we write and the authors who write them are like these waterfalls.

They are plentiful and beautiful.

But many remain nameless.

And yet, without them the fjord is unfilled and the oceans run dry.

Each waterfall carves it path from the side of a granite mountain. And each drop, each “word,” brings a bit of life to a world that is dying of thirst. Slicing through the unyielding stone of suffering, loss, heartache, and pain. Each waterfall leaves an indelible mark along its path.

Thus, even among icebergs and glaciers I couldn’t help but think of the profession to which we have been called. The motto for our agency is “To Help Change the World Word by Word.” And in Tracy Arm Fjord that idea was illustrated by hundreds of tiny waterfalls doing what they had been created to do.

Next time you think you are laboring in vain remember that your next sentence may be the one that makes a difference. Or your next paragraph is the one that helps fill an ocean, one drop at a time.