Small Matters: Becoming Faithful With Littleনমুনা

Chasing “Big”

Some years ago, I hit rock bottom after a series of risky business decisions left me in debt and unemployed. Nothing in my life was heading in the right direction. I felt stuck and desperate, and my confidence was shot. I was back to square one. One night, I sat in my room contemplating my life, and this thought dropped into my mind: “You can be great if you are willing to start small.” I quickly took my yellow sticky note, wrote those words, and stuck them on my bedroom door. To most people, this would be common sense. However, it was challenging because it went against the norm of how I viewed the world. Over the years, I had embraced the idea that “Go big or go home” was the benchmark for greatness. I was constantly ‘Chasing Big’. Be it the big dreams, big money, big deals, big house, and a big following. Consequently, I struggled with small starts because I was fixated on the big outcome. I soon realized I needed a paradigm shift about how I viewed small things.

The Bible offers a different way of thinking that embraces small things as part of the process towards more significant things. Small beginnings do not faze God; on the contrary, he encourages us to embrace them. In Zechariah chapter 4:10, we read about the enormous and daunting task that Zechariah faced when it came time to rebuild the temple, which lay in ruins. Reconstructing the temple was a massive project, and Zechariah had barely started when God told him, "Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel's hand." It's easy to feel contempt for small beginnings that we miss the potential in the small things because they don't resemble the big outcomes we desire. But seldom do things start big; instead, they often begin small and over time, they become big. Even nature exemplifies this simple truth.

Do you need a paradigm shift that embraces small beginnings? Remember, you can be great if you are willing to start small.