Think Small – Doing the Next Right Thing – Step 11

When the requirements of the season get BIG I have to think small.  I doesn’t matter whether the season is Thanksgiving or Christmas or a season of great sorrow or heart-wrenching trial or enormous responsibility or wonderful celebration…I have to think small. Today I learned something new about the “think small” principle.

This morning I was reading the Book of Mormon.  I glanced across the page and could see I was going to bump into one of my favorite verses advocating for the small the Lord uses to accomplish the big.  I couldn’t help myself—I skipped and read through the underlined verse that ends with these words, “by small means the Lord can bring about great things” (1 Nephi 16:29).  Such great news for me during a season when everything feels big! Thank Thee Lord!  Then I went back to the place on the page where I had been reading before my eyes had strayed.  Chapter sixteen of First Nephi is largely about a big problem—starvation in the wilderness—and what Nephi did that led to a successful conclusion.

• He endured the anger of his family.
• He took action and willingly constructed a new bow.
• He was humble, and even though his dad was having his own crisis of faith, he went to him for patriarchal advice.
• He looked to the Lord’s compass, the Liahona, for minute directions.
• Finally, he did as instructed and was led to the top of a mountain where he found food aplenty.

As I read my way through the story and arrived back at my underlined verse I realized something new.  Following the story of Nephi and his broken bow, just before the promise that the “small leads to great,” there are these four words, “and thus we see.”  It suddenly became clear that this verse doesn’t just stand alone. This verse actually refers back to the story that has just been told.  I realized that the “small” that brought about the “great” in Nephi’s story was his exact obedience to the next little thing the Lord asked him to do.  Aha!

Today in all the hustle and bustle I am going to keep in mind that it’s not just any “small” thing I choose to do that brings the “great.”  The direction to the right “small” comes from Jesus through my personal Liahona, the Holy Spirit, and the power to multiply small into great is the Lord’s.

Merry Christmas Season everyone!  And may all the small things in your lives be under the direction and accompanied by the power of the Lord, and may He multiply them to accomplish all the great he desires to do in and through you!

By Nannette W., Posted Thursday, December 1, 2011

Copyright 2008 by Nannette W.

All rights reserved. Making or sending copies is permitted if the page is not changed in any way and the material is not used for profit.  This notice must be included on each copy made or sent.