Starting Small
Have you ever been camping or been on the beach late one night? One of the best parts about both is fire! The smell of the smoke as it rises and encompasses your clothes. The feel of a roaring fire’s warmth as you stand next to it, is one of the best feelings. The huge bon fire on the beach as the waves crash around is incredible for ones senses. Getting a fire to start is such a delicate piece of work though, especially if you have to blow on the embers to get them to try and ignite. No hand crafted fire (no additives allowed) starts by itself. It takes time for it to grow and become a large, booming fire. Most forrest fires start with some type of spark. It could be a firework, a spark from an unattended fire, or from recreational vehicles. They all start small before becoming big.
In culture today most people are typically microwave people and not crockpots. Let me explain.
In today’s culture people want to see results now. They want the quick fix or fast way to get to the top. That’s why diets don’t typically last. That’s why people quit their sports teams because they were put on JV. That’s why Amazon Prime is so popular. People do not like to wait for things.
We don’t like to wait to get older. We don’t like waiting to move up in a company. We don’t like to wait in line at the store. But patience is a good discipline to have.
Paul says in 2 Timothy 1:6
This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you.
Paul is telling us that before you get flames to show up, a fire stars with a spark. Paul is saying here that when we are given a gift from God, it doesn’t instantly become a HUGE thing, but it is something that starts small. We have to do the work to grow the spark into a flame. We have to give attention and effort into cultivating the new gift. Just like a fan adds oxygen to the fire to bring flames, so is the development of the new gift to watch it grow into a life changing event.
Don’t rush the process. Donnie Moore once said:
There is a cumulative value of investing small amounts of time in certain activities over a long period of time.
Being patient and waiting for God to deliver in his perfect timing is incredibly difficult in whatever the gift is or goal is.
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