Little by Little

 

Have you ever stopped to think about how little things add up? Or how little habits grow? The decisions you’re making today, are determining the future you.

Maybe you struggle with healthy eating habits, and you kid yourself into thinking that a coke a day won’t make a difference to your waistline. Or maybe it’s an addiction to social media, and you can’t see that a couple hours a day could affect your mental health in the long run.

Of the 1,440 minutes you have in a day, how many of them are wasted? How many are used to benefit others? How many are spent reading God’s Word or talking to him in prayer? How many are spent encouraging a friend or a stranger? How much time is spent being grateful, whether to God, or others?

Over the past few days, I have started thinking, and not just a passing thought, but really thinking long and hard about the way I use my time.

This thought process was triggered by a sermon I listened to online (which is often the case with the words and thoughts that rattle around in my brain and then flow from my fingers and onto the page). Anyway, the speaker was talking about our habits and how to set effective goals by making them too small to fail, because small things add up over time, and over time these little choices, little habits, eventually become a lot.

It got me thinking and doing a little maths to make it more real and explainable to not only myself, but I hope to you as well.

Firstly, I want to comment a little on our excuses.

Do you ever make excuses that you don’t have time to read your Bible or pray? Or maybe your excuse is that you can’t possibly read the whole Bible in a year or two years because who has time for that? Or maybe, like me, the idea of memorizing a whole passage is somewhat daunting and it seems so overwhelming, that you never begin and it never ends up happening.

Well, I want to share some good news with you.

The small choices you make today, the little decisions, the little changes you make, if done as consistently as possible, will add up. They will multiply.

There is a verse found in Zechariah 4:10 that I’ve heard thrown around a lot in relation to this subject, and although the context is a lot more involved, the first part of it does grab my attention.

Zechariah 4:10 KJV - For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.

I realise that this is talking about the building of the second temple and in the eyes of many of the Jews, it was despised because it lacked the grandeur of Solomon’s temple. But I think we can also apply it to our small things.

I think that we need to remember that Satan despises and hopes to cause us to despise and make light of the little things. The little beginnings. Satan fears small things as he knows full well what God is capable of producing from these little things. He knows that God can produce greatness from baby steps. Little choices. Small habits that are headed in the right direction.

God has a way of taking our little and making a lot. He is able to multiply our meagre offerings into something amazing, and all glory should go to him.

If you don’t believe me, take a look at the story of the five loaves and two fish in the Bible. (Mark 6:37-44) Or David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17:41-49) Or the story of a little flour and a little oil (1 Kings 17:8-16). God can do great things with little.

Now, back to my maths and brain bending facts and figures.

Did you know that if you chose to exercise only 5 minutes a day, over the course of a year, you would have completed 1,825 minutes of exercise. That’s just over 30 hours of exercise in a year! And if you missed 25% of that, it would still be 22 hours! And that is only by doing 5 minutes a day!

It seems like so little, only 5 minutes a day, but that small amount, over a period of time, really does add up. And I’m sure it would be of some benefit.

What about if you decided that you would make a conscious effort to text 3 friends, once a week, just to be an encouragement. You would text a friend to let them know you were praying for them. Or possibly you’d share a verse of scripture that blessed you and you wanted to pass it on. Or maybe you could just send a friendly ‘hello and have a great day’ message.

Did you know that over a year, that would be 156 messages of encouragement you would have sent?

And when you think about it, how long does it take to send a short text? Not even 60 seconds, and yet you would have made a difference in someone’s life, just by letting them know you cared. 3 people. One message each a week, so little, yet so large an impact.

What about a topic very close to my heart these past few months? The subject of gratitude. If every day, you decided to write down 3 things, just 3 things, that you were grateful for, after one year, you would have written down 1,095 praiseworthy things. And if you missed 25% of the time, you would still have 821 things to be grateful for. Little time, great reward. (In another post, I hope to encourage you with the things I have learnt through study and personal experience, on the benefits of having a thankful heart)

Raise your hand if you find it hard to force yourself to read a book? You know, the things that are made of paper and cardboard, with print on each page that you physically turn, and bookmark and use as a paperweight?

I find it more and more difficult to sit and focus on a book when there is a phone right there, beckoning me to scroll endlessly, letting my brain jump from one thing to the next at the touch of a finger. But hear me out, it really isn’t that hard to read a whole book in a short amount of time. How do you do it? You do it in baby steps. Little by little.

If you read at an average speed, then reading 5 pages a day will take you approximately 8.5 minutes. That means, that you could read a 300-page book in just 2 months! And let’s say you got adventurous, you could read 6 books of that size, at only 8.5 minutes a day in one year! That’s not a lot of time spent reading in a 24-hour period.

I mean, how much time per day, do you spend on your phone going through your news feeds or social media? Hmm. More than 8.5 minutes, I’m guessing. So, in the scheme of things, setting aside a few minutes a day to focus on reading something other than news, could really accomplish some goals!

Now, let’s bring it down to our spiritual lives and our Christian walk. If you long to be closer to God and grow in your relationship with him, then spending time with him is a must!

We don’t grow spiritually by osmosis or some other strange process. No, we have to put in the hard work. We have to make an effort to dig into the Word of God, reading, studying, praying, learning, regularly in order to grow.

What if you spent time in prayer, each and every day? If you prayed, even for just a few minutes, every day, that’s 365 prayers you have lifted up before the Lord.

By praying daily for your husband, your children, that unsaved family member or that annoying co-worker, you will have spent hours of intercession over the course of a year. And just remember, that it’s really hard not to forgive someone, when you’ve been praying for them on a daily basis. If you’re having trouble with forgiveness or anger or bitterness towards someone, start praying for them consistently, and watch what God will do in your heart.

If you make time to spend a portion of every day with the Lord. Alone. Just you and him, communing together, learning from him, listening to him, in a year, you will have had 365 conversations with God. Whether it’s 5 minutes or an hour, and if you miss 25% of the time, that’s still over 250 times you will have spent in his presence, bathing yourself in scripture, speaking to him in prayer, learning truth from the Word.

If you don’t think that will make a difference in your life, then I dare you to try it and see!

Did you know that reading your Bible the whole way through, from start to finish, all 66 books, all 1,189 chapters, all 31,170 verses, at only 6 minutes a day, will take you 2 years to complete?

6 minutes a day. Not much is it? But it’s achievable. It’s too small to fail.

This year, I have made the decision to consistently and diligently work through a Bible reading plan to read the whole Bible in 2 years. I have started and given up many times in the past as I bit off more than I could chew. And as I like to do quite a few different things in my daily quiet time, I knew that if I could start small, by reading smaller portions each day, and make it an achievable goal, then I could, with God’s help, do it.

What if you could memorize just one verse a week? That’s 52 verses in a year! That’s the equivalent of a whole chapter or more, and all because of memorizing only one verse a week. This is also something I am working on this year, Bible memory. One verse at a time. Slowly slowly, not focusing on seeing it as a passage I’m learning, but one verse I’m learning and building on that each week.

I guess what I’m trying to say in this somewhat lengthy post, is that to make a difference in anything in your life, whether secular or spiritual, you need to start small.

Make your goals too small to fail.

If you try and take on insurmountable tasks, pursuing goals that are not achievable in the long run, then you’re just setting yourself up to fail.

But if you set yourself small goals, just a few minutes a day, just a few pages, just a small change in your habits, you’ll see progress. And that progress will spur you on to keep it up and stick with it.

Busy mother with little ones at your feet, overwhelmed wife with too much on your plate, working woman with a demanding career, single woman with a busy social life, whatever season of life you find yourself in, let me encourage you that it is possible to make a difference in your life and others by making small changes and setting achievable goals. You don’t have to take on the world in leaps and bounds. You don’t have to set unrealistic tasks.

Just take little steps. Make them so small that you are encouraged that you’ll be able to achieve it. It won’t seem so daunting and you will be excited when you are able to accomplish it. And then watch what God will do with your little. In his hands, he can make even the smallest effort multiply.

Start small.

Schedule it.

Stick with it.

God will bless your small beginnings. He will multiply your efforts.

Encourage yourself by starting small and seeing results. It’s so rewarding when you see your little efforts grow. As you cross off your list of Bible passages read, or you see your gratitude journal fill up, day by day, or those single verses you’ve memorized begin to make up a whole chapter, or your outgoing text messages of encouragement grow, or the books you’ve read start piling up, your heart is encouraged and you begin to desire more change, more growth.

Who is it you want to be in 2 years? In 5 years? In 10 years? The change starts now. The choices you make today are determining your future. What small habits are you putting in place now that will keep you grounded and growing in the future?

God has good plans for you. He wants you to seek him, pray to him, listen to him, serve him. He wants you to grow and prosper. He has an expected end for you and his thoughts towards you are good and not evil.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 KJV - For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Start today. Make small choices that will impact your future. Make good choices. Wise choices. Start small and stick with it.

 

“Courage, my heart. Go on little by little, for many littles will make a great whole.”

Charles Spurgeon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How do you read your Bible?

Do you ever read the Bible and you find it to be tasteless and similar to cardboard in your mouth? Is it sometimes dry and hard to digest?

Wouldn’t it be incredible if we could read our Bibles, totally engrossed in every little detail, utterly absorbed in the stories, amazed and astounded at the truths we find there, hanging on every word and reading our Bibles was never dull or boring, ever again?

What if we could say along with the Psalmist…

Psalm 119:18 KJV - Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

What if we saw the Word of God as wondrous? Marvellous? Magnificent? Delightful? Incredible?

What if we could pour over God’s Word with intense curiosity and interest in finding just what each passage meant and how it applied to our lives? What if we could become so engrossed in our reading, that it was hard for others to get our attention, so focused were we on the words jumping off the page at us?

You know, we are often just like that with things in life. Whether it be a hobby, or a TV show, or a person or the beauty we find in nature. We can become so focused that everything around us seems to fade into the distance. But when it comes to God’s Word, we find ourselves distracted.

This year, I have become determined to memorize more scripture. As a child, I learnt many passages from the Bible, and thankfully, because of the age at which they were learnt, they have pretty much stayed in the recesses of my memory and I’m able to quote them, somewhat accurately, even 40 years later.

Fast forward a few decades, and it just isn’t as easy anymore to commit verses to memory. But God is good, and I believe that if we truly want to do something that he encourages in scripture, then he will help us to achieve it.

And so, I am a few verses into Psalm 119. It’s a slow process, but progress is being made.

I love this Psalm because of its focus on the Word of God. In all the 176 verses of this Psalm, we only find a handful that do not mention the Word of God, the law, judgements, precepts, testimonies, commandments, statutes. It is an absolute treasure trove!

Not only do we read of the importance of God’s Word, but we read of God’s attributes. His righteousness, truthfulness, faithfulness, trustworthiness, unchangeableness, eternality, purity.

I read recently that we tend to gravitate to one of three ways of reading the Bible. This particular writer stated that we either read the Scriptures inquisitively, inspirationally or imaginatively. And what we really need to do, is to read with all three of these perspectives.

Now, I’m not someone who fits in a box. I don’t like to colour inside the lines, but I am very interested in deepening my relationship with the Lord and digging deeper into the Word in order to gain knowledge and understanding to better live my Christian life, and if I can be shown a different perspective that will help my spiritual growth, then I’m all for it.

Let me explain a little about the three ways mentioned in order to get a better handle on this new thought brought to my attention.

An inquisitive reader loves to study the Bible and research all the details. They love its ability to instruct and train everyone to live Godly lives. For me, I love to look up the Greek and Hebrew words, trying to understand the true meanings, as they are often different than what we suppose. Don’t get me wrong, God’s Word is for correction and instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). The Bible is our instruction manual but if that’s the only way we look into God’s Word, we can miss the beauty and wonder of the stories we find in its pages. The Bible is not only knowledge to change our minds, but also to change our lives. And often, the stories have the ability to help with that.

Let’s move on to the inspirational Bible readers. They love to read the Word of God as a source of encouragement and often use it to lift their spirits. They read it as inspirational, and they enjoy the way it meets them right where they are. And yes, God’s Word is inspired, God breathed, and it is a very inspirational book. But if we are only reading it to get encouragement, we may miss out on great theological truths that are imperative to our Christian walk. The Bible does lift us up, the Psalms are full of precious promises that help us in difficult times, but it should also ground us in the faith. We should be learning to graduate from milk to meat in our spiritual diet. (Hebrews 5:13,14)

An imaginative Bible reader enthusiastically sees the Bible stories come alive. They read with excitement, imagining the setting, the people, the tale as it twists and turns. If you could read their minds, there would be an epic storyline rattling around in there, full of excitement and adventure. Now, I love to be imaginative when I read the stories of the Bible. And I especially love to teach them to children with all the excitement they deserve, but if we’re only imagining the stories in the Bible, we could miss the straightforwardness of the text and the message the words hold.

So, what kind of a reader are you? From what vantage point do you approach the Bible?

These three ways, and I’m sure there are others, are all important and need to be used when reading the Bible. But we need to be like the Psalmist when he asks God to open (uncover, disclose, reveal, discover) his eyes so that he can behold (consider, pay attention to, shew regard to) the wondrous things that are in the Word of God.

Psalm 119:18 KJV - Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

God loves to show us truth. He loves it when we have a holy curiosity for his Word and a hunger and thirst for the pages of Scripture.

Sometimes God teaches us his truth through seasons of questioning, on our part, where we desire to know more of what the words mean and how they relate. Other times he reveals truth through a time of meditation on his Word, a time where we are inspired by the words as they speak to us in our time of need. And at other times, he reveals truth by letting our imaginations run wild and the Word comes alive in vivid, high-definition colour and surround sound.

All three of these ways, inquisitive, inspirational and imaginative are valuable in the way we come to Scripture. We need a holy curiosity as we read the Word of God. We need to ask the hard questions, we need to be comforted and inspired and we need to use our imagination, without taking anything away from the beautiful words we find on the pages of our Bibles.

We need to read our Bibles with an eager desire to learn. We need to read with passion and interest. We need to be on our way to heaven with curiosity about what we’ve read and a fire that won’t be quenched. A fervent, excited, engaged mind, always wanting to read more, know more, learn more. We need to have such a love for the Word of God that we can’t go even one day without opening its pages to reveal the truths that lay in front of us.

Psalm 119:97 KJV - O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.

I want to be like the Psalmist who not only asks for open eyes to behold wondrous things, but I want to have a love for the Word of God, and I want that love to drive me to read more, memorize more and meditate more.  

God grant me a holy curiosity, a taste for your Word, so much so that I crave the delights it holds. Let me not be satisfied with a quick reading of a few verses in a hurried quiet time. Help me to meditate on them, dig deeper, be comforted and helped by them and stand in awe of the beauty and wonder I find in the treasure that is your Word.

 

Psalm 119:92-93 KJV - Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction. I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me.

 

Find Beauty in the Small Things

Please allow me to share a little of my musings with you.

This morning, as I walked down the driveway, pulling behind me two wheelie bins full of rubbish for their weekly collection, enjoying the worship music playing from my phone, breathing in the humid air that was growing warmer by the minute, I began to take notice of the little things.

With the wet season upon us, the grass and weeds along the driveway have become overgrown, and with the increase in growth, I see splashes of colour as I walk. A tiny yellow flower peeks its head above the untidy blades of grass. A small white bloom cries out to be noticed in amongst the ground cover, hidden by leaves and small twigs. Tiny little mushrooms pop up out of the red dirt, forcing their way through the gravel and stones that line the driveway. The grass is going to seed and in doing so, produces lovely tall stalks of hairlike purple and white ‘flowers’ that sway in the breeze.

It took me a lot longer to walk back to the house as I had to stop and take photos of these little things. Appreciating God’s creation through photography is a passion of mine, and often these miniscule displays of his power and love are overlooked.

But today, I stopped and knelt down to get a better view, marvelling at the detail. Each blade of grass, each tiny petal, each little leaf, dripping with the morning dew was a reminder of God’s goodness to me and the beauty he sees in the small things.

Often in life, we ignore the little things. We don’t take any notice of the mundane, the everyday, the ordinary. We gasp in amazement at the impressive, the extraordinary, the things that cry out for our attention. We are delighted by the sight of a brilliant red rose in full bloom or a jacaranda tree with its purple flowers cascading down from its branches, leaving a mesmerizing carpet of colour in its wake. We stand in awe of a roaring waterfall, or a magnificent snow-covered mountain top.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for getting excited about the awe inspiring, the grand, the enormous, but I love to find beauty in the small things.

Sometimes, we neglect to appreciate the ‘lesser’.

Now, I’m not just thinking about flowers and vistas here. I’m thinking about people. The people in our lives.

God sees beauty in brokenness. He sees beauty in humbleness. In smallness.

Often, we wish we were more like someone else. Maybe you feel overlooked in your job or in your position at church. Maybe you feel like you are just a tiny cog in a big wheel, and you feel kind of useless. You’re just a small thing. A small part of the big picture.

You don’t have an ‘upfront’ job. You work behind the scenes.

You are just a tiny flower in a sea of grass. Don’t be deceived into thinking that your tiny bloom is insignificant. You may be small, in position, in character, in personality, but you could be just the colour someone needs in their life.

You may feel like you’re not making a big difference in the scheme of things. But from little things, big things grow. Without the little things, the seemingly insignificant jobs, the small contribution you think you are making, there wouldn’t be any big things to be amazed at.

We often overlook people who do the little things. We overlook the quiet ones, the introverted, the behind-the-scenes workers.

But God sees their worth, and he sees your worth, whether you are an out and out extrovert or a quiet soul, content to hide in obscurity.

We all have a place in God’s will and if we can find that place, and be content in that place, desiring only to obey him and follow his leading, we will find true joy and happiness.

The old saying goes, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. And it’s true. What may be beautiful to you may not be beautiful to another person. And you know what? It rings true with God too. God doesn’t have the same concept of beauty as we do. If a person and their calling is beautiful to God, then it is beautiful, no matter what the world thinks.

If God sees beauty in it, then it fits his concept of beauty and who are we to say any different?

We often think that the small things, the tiny creations, the quiet people, the little jobs are not important, but we are so wrong.

God knows and sees every minute detail. He knows how many hairs are on your head. He even sees the value of a tiny sparrow.

Luke 12:6 KJV - Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?

Luke 12:7 KJV - But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Matthew 10:29 KJV - Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

We read an interesting passage in the book of Zechariah.

Zechariah 4:10 KJV - For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.

This is referring to the second temple being built, which in the eyes of some of the Jews, was despised because of it’s lack of grandeur. They had seen the former temple and were not very appreciative of the new one as it wasn’t as grand as the old one. We even read of weeping among the people because of its smallness.

Ezra 3:12-13 KJV - But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy: So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.

I’m so glad that God doesn’t cast us aside when we accomplish small things. He knows that there can be power in seasons of small things. These are often times of growth and preparation for bigger things to come.

The Devil fears the small things, because he knows full well what great things God can do in them and bring out of them.

When we have a desire to simply put one foot in front of the other, serving where God has us, in the job he has us in, whether big or small, he will bless.

I teach a small Ladies Bible Study, and I write a blog with very few followers, and although I have a passion for women’s ministry and I long to share with a larger audience what God teaches me through his Word, in order that more women will be encouraged in their walk with Christ, he has seen fit to keep my field of influence small. He has chosen to place me in a position where size doesn’t matter. He wants me to be content with the small things. The small beginnings.

In the words of a song, “I’m just a nobody, trying to tell everybody, all about somebody, who saved my soul!” 

I’m just a tiny flower in a world of overgrown lawns. A little, insignificant bloom on the ground beneath a bed of colourful roses.

But, as long as I trust the Lord and let him lead the way, lying content in his will and in his care, I don’t have to be concerned about the world’s view of me. If God sees beauty in me and my calling, then that is all that matters. He sees grandeur in small things.

Not everyone is called to be a brilliant Flame tree or a golden Cootamundra Wattle. Some are simply called to be tiny splashes of colour in a patch of grass. Ready and waiting for the Lord’s timing, when he reaches down and gently takes us from where we are and adds us to a beautiful bouquet to be used in his service.

So, when you take time out to stop and smell the roses, don’t forget to take notice of the tiny flowers too. Make the choice to purposefully look out for the little things. Be intentional in seeing the beauty in the small things.

Small things are important to God. There is beauty in the little details.

You’re worth doesn’t lie in how ‘big’ you are, it lies in who you are in Christ and how he sees you. You may feel like a minute, broken, colourless flower, but God sees you as a magnificent rose in full bloom. He sees right past your brokenness. He sees a new creation. A redeemed child of God. Chosen, loved, forgiven, and precious in his sight.

You were created in God’s image. You were created for a unique purpose.

You are who God says you are!