Little by Little:

I was continuing to read the book, “Permission to Dream,” by Christine Caine.  I have really been enjoying this book and learning about how our dreams can be a part of God’s plan for our lives and how we best reach these dreams. This book goes through the many highs and lows that we can often feel when it comes to unfulfilled or unfinished dreams.  It is easy to want to continue on, but we can eventually get very discouraged.  

One thing Christine reminded me in a recent chapter is how God tends to work little by little.  We can start to follow our dreams and become closer to God little by little.  This is how God works.  One quote I noticed from this chapter was, “Consider just a few other areas of life where we see this principle very clearly.  Little by little, we: Lose weight and gain muscle, get debt-free by discipline and delayed gratification, acquire our education and qualifications, build trust in relationships, and write books.”  (Caine, pg.148). 

I loved thinking about going little by little because I am a person who struggles working little by little.  I have tried to get better about this as I have grown older and wiser, but my tendency is to want to get as much done as quickly as possible.  My grandma would often talk to me about this tendency of mine when she would see me working on projects. I would start a project and seek to accomplish it that day, or possibly the day after.  I didn’t like putting a project away and only worked on it periodically over a stretch of time.  However, as I have gotten older, I have gotten better at working on major projects for a little bit each day, so it could be done with better quality.  

I think we as people can often get discouraged when we are working on things slowly or only little by little. It can be really hard to look at a final project or something we are dreaming about, and it seems far away.  However, there are so many things the Lord has done that do take time, especially when he was working with people.  He didn’t often do a big thing in one day.  For a few examples, there is the falling of the wall of Jericho. The Israelites had to go around, walking, the wall around Jericho for at least a week.  The people were getting up every day and just walking around the wall.  That must have felt monotonous and boring.  It must have been discouraging to just walk around feeling aimless for a few days.  However, just as God promised, the wall came down right after the walking and the blowing of the horn. 

Another good example is the life of Jesus Christ.  Jesus is the Savior of the world and the only way we as people can have a relationship with God.  However, if God wanted things to be quick, he could have just sent Jesus down, saved the world, and then sent him back to heaven.  However, God chose to send Jesus down for at least thirty years.  He was in his thirties when he died on the cross.  He had thirty some years of being born, growing up, leading, and ministering.  It was a really long and extended process.  However, he did it that way, so we as people could really learn a lot from his life.  

Galatians 6:9 brings up great wisdom and this says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”  This is a good reminder that sometimes things are going to take time and patience. Some things may even make us weary and drained.  However, when this is a part of God’s Will, then there are going to be good things reaped and harvested.  

The challenge for this week is to remember some of the times you like to rush through to get to your dreams quicker.  What is something you have been very impatient about when it comes to chasing your dreams?  What is something you had hoped to have reached a long time before and just have not yet? Then after you identify where those areas of rushing and impatience in your life is, the best choice is to spend time praying for grace and for patience.  We can pursue our dreams in God’s plan little by little.