going small

{via pinterest from amazon}

last week i finished a book that peter got me for my birthday. it's called go small. the author is craig gross who heads up xxxchurch among other things.

the title references the idea that we all have to do something huge for Jesus. it's doesn't say we shouldn't do something huge for Jesus, but that it is not up to us. we need to see the small God-ordained moments all around us. because they matter too.

God doesn't just care about the big things that are done in his name. he cares about the small things too. and sometimes he takes the seemingly insignificant things, and turns them into something much bigger. if we ignore the promptings to do something though, then we'll never know what might have happened - big or small.

but the biggest "BOOM. mind-blown." moment for me came with an illustration he used about God being a parent.

many people have heard this illustration in some form or another before. i had heard it before too. before i was a parent myself.

as a parent of young kids they request to "help" an awful lot. i love that my kids want to help, and i don't want to discourage them helping, so i try to employ their helpfulness whenever i can.

for instance - adele loves to "help" sweep the kitchen floor. and as craig said in the book, her helping results in it taking far longer, with a few scatterings of the pile i'm sweeping. sometimes she even likes to purposefully scatter the pile {presumably because the pile makes the floor appear less clean}.

despite all of the drawbacks i still allow her to help sometimes. and at the end of her "helping" i'm generally smiling because she worked so hard. and we accomplished it together.

keane likes to help cook. he's turning into an excellent sous-chef, but right now it still takes longer having him help.

you get the idea.

this is basically true about God and us. God can accomplish his plan without us. his plan does not hinge on us. but he allows us to take part in it. he allows us to "help." we get to take part in it. he is never not in control of it. but he allows us to take part in it and to grow through it.

and if we do it with a heart for him, i imagine he's smiling ear to ear when we accomplish the task together.

if we ignore his prompting to do something, or say something, he doesn't come beg for us to come back and do it so his plan can go forth. if i don't do what he prompts me to do he will bring about his will through someone else. he is in control.

{via pinterest from twitter}

we all have a part to play. some of us have a large part to play - though it may not always seem large in the midst of it. some of us have a minuscule part to play. but we're all given a part to play. God has allowed us to partake in his greater story.

going small is not definitive. God does call people to big things. but he does not call everyone to big things. and we are called to be faithful in the small things just as much as we are called to be faithful in the big ones. faithfulness all looks the same to God.


i am constantly striving to matter. i think we all are. it's embedded in us. but if God calls us to small seemingly insignificant things, and we do them to his glory, then we matter to him. then that means those things that seem insignificant are not insignificant.

our fellow man doesn't get the final say. God does.
remember that the next time you question whether or not you matter.

if we're not faithful with little, we will not be asked to handle much.
and we may not be asked to handle much anyway.
it's not up to me. it's up to God.

{just a few thoughts for your wednesday *wink*}

xoxo