"I long to accomplish a great and noble
task, but it is my chief duty to
accomplish small tasks as if
they were great and noble."
- Helen Keller
http://kirkcameron.com/2013/08/despised-day-small-things/
http://www.rforh.com/uncategorized/who-has-despised-the-day-of-small-things-zechariah-410/
Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.
Mother Teresa
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/small_things.html
There are many of us that are willing to do great things for the Lord, but few of us are willing to do little things.
Dwight L. Moody
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/little_things.html
My thoughts turned time and time again to the small things in life. Each day is made up of 24 hours and that time can be broken down into minutes and seconds. Kirk Cameron linked to the web page rforh sharing a sermon on Zechariah 4:10
10 For who hath despised the day of small things?
Small things often come to my attention in the Bible. The story of Naaman being cleansed of leprosy is another example where the Lord ask Naaman to do something simple...bath in the river Jordan 7 times. He is angry but the servant draws his attention to the fact if it was a difficult task he would have done it. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+5&version=KJV
Again with the story of the bronze serpent, the people are told if the look upon it they shall live. Simple, easy but many did not. The symbol is still used today to represent healing.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+21%3A4-9&version=KJV
A plane crashed into a mountain, after studying the contents of the black box they realized that the pilot left the airport with the settings off by one degree. This small difference was enough to take them off their course with tragic results.
When water is at the temperature of 211 degrees F it will not boil but at 212 degrees F it does. Again a 1 degree difference.
The entire essence of the "butterfly effect" is built around this essence of small changes making huge differences either positive or negative. I read about one of the men that discovered this phenomena. He was running a program that simulated weather. He printed the calculations periodically. The power went out so he used the printed calculations to restart the program. The results were wildly different. He did not take into account that the print out was only to 3 decimals but the computer was set to 6 decimals. The differences were in the 1/1000 of a percent difference. The scientists joked that it was if a butterfly beating its wings in Africa caused a tornado in the United States.
Changing my life in small increments can have a powerful effect. I often underestimate the impact of my small actions. Today I am pondering on what small acts I can do to change the direction of my life. OR what small corrections do I need to make to get me headed in the right direction.
 |
| Droplets are smallest bits of water, gathered together makes the mightiest of oceans. |
1 comment:
I watched a British reality TV show called "Secret Eaters", In the 1st episode they taped the participants, eating then an expert suggested making one small change. He did an experiment that proved if you go to the theater and hold your bag of popcorn in your dominant hand and put the popcorn in your mouth with your non-dominant hand you will eat 25% less. So a small change like using your non-dominant hand can make a difference.
The doubter in me decided to eat my Friday night treat, a bag of chips, by holding the bag in my right (dominant) hand and putting the chips in my mouth with the left. I'll admit I usually binge eat the whole family sized bag in one sitting. At half way, I stopped...because I felt full!
The theory is, it took a little longer for me to shove those chips in with my left hand so my brain had time to send the message that I was full! I'm pretty much ambidextrous (except for writing) so this was a really small change for me!
Small change, big results!
Post a Comment