The Immensity Of Smallness

It reminds us that vision casting without an action plan is mere daydreaming. It assures us that every significant journey begins with a few steps.  And most importantly, it awakens us to the reality that our omnipresent God has chosen to inhabit the routine and the mundane.  The immensity of smallness.

I’m drawn to that phrase because I think it describes my week. On the one hand, we just completed an enormous project (called The Home Campaign) with some pretty astounding results that we will announce this coming Sunday.

Then my post yesterday offered some views on baptism that differ from accepted United Methodist norm.  It all caused a mini-firestorm in the Methodist blogosphere, and the comments that followed either lauded my courage or asked me to rescind my ordination papers.

So far, so big.

But then, I remembered that I still need to type that agenda for staff meeting.  I still need to write a short letter that will go out with our 2012 giving statements.  I still need to prepare the lesson plan for a new Thursday morning bible study.  I still need to visit a man whose body is struggling to accept its new knee.  And I still need to begin the weekly work of preparing a sermon (granted, the one I’m working on will be delivered several weeks from now, but you’ve still got to do one a week!). 

So far, so small.

And so I return to Rob Wegner’s wisdom.  Only by recognizing that the little things you do are themselves pregnant with both human possibilty and divine promise can you ever be prepared for some larger assignments God might give you.

Because whenever you get too delighted with yourself, God has a way of reminding you of the smallness of what you think is immense.