Archives for January 2008

Scott and I went out on a little date for lunch today. Mom had taken the girls for her normal Friday outing and I didn’t care to eat a PB&J.  We went to a local pub and had sandwiches and then decided to check out a new boutique called Chocolat Boutique.  You can tell you aren’t going to get any chocolate 3/.99 but it’s chocolate!  I had to check it out.

We walked in and see two cases of truffles.   The lady comes out from the back to greet us and has some sort of European accent.  She tells us half the truffles are brought in from Switzerland and Belgium and the other half are made in the store.  We get the scoop on the most popular ones and I go for my standard peanut butter and chocolate mix and Scott gets an imported chocolate and caramel truffle. She puts it in a bag and sticks a store sticker to keep it shut. We hand over the card and the total is $4.  For two pieces of chocolate.

We wait until we get to the car but I can’t hold out to eat it for a snack later so I rip the bag open and also threaten to eat Scott’s.  I mmm and yum over every bite.   Scott asks if it was $2 worth of mmm-ing and yum-ing.  No, probably not, but truffles have been added to my list of expensive indulgences.

Last night before I went to sleep I had another idea after reading my daily dose of my 90 days Bible reading and jotted down the phrase Small Tasks, Big Impact. I totally forgot about it until today when I came across a post on Lysa TerKeurst’s site where she’s offering the chance to get published. I could not think of one thing to write on until I remembered my jotted note. So here’s what I came up with.

Since January 2 of this year, I have been involved in an online group whose goal is to read the entire Bible straight-through in 90 days. Call me crazy, but we’re a few weeks in and it’s really not as hard as it sounds. It’s nice to have a good inch of Bible in my left hand now and only three in my right instead of four inches of Bible to read. It still seems daunting but taken in small doses, it’s been amazingly easy.

I say all that to say that this week I finished up Deuteronomy and started Joshua. That’s right where Moses dies and Joshua begins to lead the Israelites into the promised land. As we literally closed the chapter on Moses, I began to think about how awesome his life was and how I wonder and hope that I get to meet him in Heaven one day.

Then I began to think over all the things he had done and wondering if I could ever come close to having such an impact and then it hit me. A lot of what Moses did were very small tasks. The plagues against Egypt? He just told Pharaoh to let the people go or else. Turning a rod into a snake? He just threw it on the ground. The Red Sea? He just held up his staff and stood there. Delivering the ten commandments? He just climbed up a mountain and watched God write it. Directing the people out of Egypt? He just relayed what God told him. They sound so easy when you boil it down to what Moses actually had to do but these are all part of the most amazing events in history. So what made them so special? Not the task and not Moses. These were small tasks with big impact. God used Moses each and every time to complete a very small task so that God could show his power and glory with a big impact. God never asked Moses to part the Red Sea. All he asked him to do was hold his staff up and stand there. But think about the impact of that.

I think when we think of doing big things for God we think we’re going to be expected to do big tasks with big impact. After reading the history of Moses, I’m seeing that’s not how God works at all. He’s got the big stuff covered. He just wants us to do something small out of obedience and then watch Him do something glorious with it.

Amy posted links today to this article about a man and woman that were married and three days later he went to war.  He visited on his breaks but one day he comes back and she is gone.  They reunite SIXTY years later.  Unbelievable.