“He who waits to do a great deal of good at once will never do anything. Life is made up of little things. It is very rarely that an occasion is offered for doing a great deal at once. True greatness consists in being great in little things.”
– C. Simmons (Leaves of Gold, pg. 178)
Yesterday’s post (The Irrecoverable Gift) challenged us to consider how we use the day we are given. In that spirit I ask for your consideration, will you or I do anything great today? As you can expect, that depends on how we define greatness. In our world, greatness is often measured by newsworthiness. Did I win a major sports event? Was I elected to public office? Did I pull a woman and two children from a flooded car? These are the types of things that gain public notice, and are often considered great accomplishments. However, the likelihood I will do anything like that today is quite slim.
There is a great illustration offered in a story about starfish. A child, finding numerous starfish washed onto the beach, was returning them one by one to the water. Seeing what the child was attempting, an adult came by and told the child she could not make a difference, as there were far too many starfish to help. Undaunted, the child picked up another starfish, returned it to the water, and said, “I made a difference for that one.” The story teaches a lesson that can be applied broadly to our approach to life. The world might suggest that greatness would require returning all of the beached starfish to the water. In contrast, God might say that greatness would be helping whichever starfish you can, even if it were only one.
Jesus told a parable about a master who went away and left three servants with varying amounts of responsibility (see Matthew 25:14-30). Upon his return, the master commended two of the servants, not because they produced the same results, but because they took advantage of whatever opportunity they had. The third servant, who had received the least amount of responsibility, was not commended, for he had not grasped the opportunity to prosper with what had been entrusted to him. Of course, the parable offers more than what we are drawing from it here. Still, if we follow the contours of this teaching, we can conclude that greatness is not so much a function of magnitude as it is of opportunity.
I have a feeling that you will do something great today. It may not be a blip on the radar of the local newspaper or television station. It may not even find its way onto the social media carousel. But those aren’t the arbiters of greatness that should concern us. We have a Heavenly Father who takes notice when the world does not. You may only be able to get your hands on one “starfish” today, but if you will toss it back into the ocean, you have made a difference and done something great.
See you along the Winding Path.
The Winding Path 