Small beginnings
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Even if we can get to the finish line a little quicker today than we could in the past, it’s important to understand that small or humble beginnings serve a purpose.”
I was on a call yesterday with my discipleship group. One of our discussion points was to share something that we perceive as small that God might want to use to reach and bless others. I don’t consider my gift of writing to be insignificant, but I do have to be careful not to diminish its impact, when my reach and readership is small. Generally speaking, we don’t like to be small. It makes us feel like we’re not enough. It makes us question if we’re as good as our neighbor who’s further along than we are. That’s why God tells us to “not despise small beginnings.”
I love to hear the stories of how people got their start. For instance, Oprah was a weekends feature reporter in her early days, and once had the privilege of reporting on a cockatoos birthday party at a local zoo. While I couldn’t find the footage, I bet she put the same passion and dedication to the story as she would in the stories, segments, deals, and companies to come.
“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.” -Zechariah 4:10, NLT
Zerubbabel was a religious and political leader in Israel, and instrumental in leading efforts to rebuild God’s Temple after the Israelites returned home post Babylonian captivity. Building a temple takes time, even under the best of conditions. Then, consider the emotional toil the Israelites must have felt being back home after 70 years. You can picture the elders with their fond memories of the “good old days” and the dismay present at having to start all over again.
In this fast-paced, technologically-advanced day, we can be tempted to think that small beginnings aren’t necessary. Even if we can get to the finish line a little quicker today than we could in the past, it’s important to understand that small or humble beginnings serve a purpose.
God works on our character. He wants us to value and appreciate the work, even if it doesn’t seem award-winning to us. During this time, we stay close to God because we don’t know how things will turn out, and we are looking for guidance and direction at every stage. He wants us to build that habit early.
We are told not to despise small beginnings because they help us put future success in perspective. We have a sense of gratitude thinking about how far we’ve come. The accolades don’t go to our heads because we remember when we didn’t have any, and the reward was in doing a good job and knowing that God was pleased.
In addition, small beginnings also give us room to make errors. I think about leaping on the floor balance beam as a kid in gymnastics class, then progressing to the low beam, and finally making it to the “real” beam. Falling on the floor beam was no big deal. I didn’t feel the added pressure of falling, so I could focus on learning and improving. Starting on the floor beam also gave me something to reach for, and brought a level of excitement for the possibilities to come.
Those earlier stages also provide us the space to develop the principles and best practices that will take our work to the next level. God wants us to have a solid, steady foundation upon which to build. A tree must have deep roots in order to grow tall and bear fruit. And that’s ultimately what we want, right? We want more and “bigger” in order to have a greater impact and make a difference. But first we have to start.
