I’ve come across the same Scripture verse again and again in recent days:
“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin …” Zephaniah 4:10 NLT
As a matter of fact, I ran into the words so many times, I made a graphic of it:
I pay attention when God repeats Himself.
I’m in a season of new beginnings … and yes, it seems to be slow and small at this point.
I can choose to be frustrated. Or I can choose to anchor my emotions to this verse and be like God who knows quite a lot about beginnings, and who “… rejoices to see the work begin …”
And didn’t I just blog about being wise about where we anchor our emotions? Why yes, yes, I did.
Today’s quote brings up a tricksy balance: being content with little and wanting more.
I’m for both contentment and ambition. The challenge comes with being content with where I am and what I have — and focusing on just that and not where someone else is and what someone else has.
You want to wreck your contentment? Go wishing upon someone else’s star. You’ll lose your way every time.
In Your Words: Are you in a season of small beginnings? Know that God rejoices over such things. Be content with where you are — and go ahead and wish upon your star for more. What keeps you going when things don’t always go the way you dreamed?
In Others' Words: Contented with Little http://bit.ly/2kjfkbC #perspective #ambition Click To Tweet 'My motto is: Contented with little, yet wishing for more.' quote by Charles Lamb. http://bit.ly/2kjfkbC #contentment #ambition Click To Tweet
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This could relate to my writing. I’m working hard, achieving some but not fantastic results. I know I’m learning, gaining, and making progress. Most of all I’m enjoying the journey and some God-given outstanding friends along the way.
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Dee: Yes … one way to be content along the way is to be grateful for the blessings waiting for us. Friendships always help me enjoy the journey more.
No success can be greater than that which is already present in the heart.
So true, Andrew. Yet living in a culture that values outward, measurable achievement rather than inner character and transformation can make it challenging to rest in that truth.
I suppose it can be said that the struggle to achieve – with all its inherent false starts, failures, and seasons of waiting – is the very thing that disciplines heart. We hold up the achievement, but the true gold has been wrought within.
Oh, that I would remember this is the true goal and purpose of the One who purposed me!
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Bernadette:
Ah, the disciplines of the heart … if we can focus on those … value those …
It’s conversations like these that are so valuable, too — and we need to realize that.
I was fresh off an amazingly encouraging lesson on Hebrews 12:4-11. That God disciplines us because we are His dearly loved children. I am seeing that I’ve been walking that “not pleasant, but painful” path the last several years, and missing, or outright railing against, it’s good purpose.
Shedding the comfort as contentment lie has taken time. Still is. Laying aside the world’s measuring tools… also still a work in progress. But God keeps bringing me to places that light up the path. This is one of them.
Thank you for that.
Bernadette, I’m lucky…being caught between the hammer and anvil of two lethal cancers, with a life that can by the world’s standards be judged an abject failure, a certain clarity, like Anduril, Aragorn’s Flame Of The West, was forged.
It was within me all along; everything of which I dreamed, and it needed no outward expression.
Clarity by hammer.
Not what we imagine when we pray for insight or freedom from inner bondage.
Andrew, I have so often been stretched by the sight you give words to here on Beth’s blog. You’ve paid a great price for your clarity. Still are. And we who come to the conversation, even just as “listeners,” are continually enriched. Thank you for helping us see.
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This sounds like a wise proverb, Andrew. I shall attribute it to you, my friend.
Thanks, Beth!