The speakers were big names with prominence. Pastors of mega churches. Authors. Prominent muscians. News anchor. CEOs of companies. Publishers.
The music was big…and loud…and amazing.
The attendance was large. Thousands.
The air of Christian stardom hung heavy on the Mariner’s Church campus this last week. As I breathed it in, simultaneous emotions of excitement and discouragement washed over me. Leave it to a conference like this to refresh you while reminding you that…
You. Are. Small.
For this less-than-prominent girl it took great effort to not allow myself to feel swept away in the sea of “big” that swirled around me…to not observe, and wonder, and compare, and shrink back. My life is not prominent in the eyes of the world. I do not have man’s recognition or acclaim. In my desperate desire to be used by God I sometimes secretly crave a larger platform wondering if that would make me more effective for His purposes.
Or more important. *sigh*
Yet the ironic thing is that in all of the bigness, there was a whispering thread beckoning to the small…buried statements made toward a theme that God was planting within my heart. A reminder that…
There is big in the little. There is signficance in the insignficant.
Thankfully, God’s voice pierced through the bigness like a needle straight to my heart and quietly persuaded…
The path of faithfulness is preimminent, even if it leads to a life of perceived mediocrity instead of prominence.
Hear the profound little statements:
- “When you are obsessed with loving others, courage comes all over you.” (Dave Ramsey)
- “Slow and stead matters. You win by the little things done right.” (Dave Ramsey)
- “Often times a single act of courage is the tipping point of something extraordinary.” (Andy Stanley)
- “Courage looks very different on the inside than it does on the outside. It’s not about the grandiose and being famous.” (Nancy Ortberg)
- “Pastoring is a pretty modest job. It is not a glamorous life. Somebody has to be set aside to pay attention. This is a pastor’s job…helping others find their story.” (Eugene Peterson)
- Even if I accomplish nothing else, I must have intimacy with God and know and love others. (Eugene Peterson and John Perkins).
Bigness comes and goes. Bigness is hard to maintain. But a life focused on faithfulness in small things is a life that understands eternity and the nature of God. He sees the unseen faithfulness and quietly applauds.
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