Can You Accept Being Small?

With Christmas almost here, I’ve been reflecting on how often the idea of “Small” shows up in the Christmas story and in the larger story of Jesus.

 It starts with the prophet Micah predicting that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem, “small among the towns of Judah” (Micah 5:2). Isaiah goes further and predicts that Jesus himself will be utterly unremarkable in his appearance, held in low esteem, and eventually rejected by the people that were the focus of his life’s work (Isaiah 53:2-3). Jesus’ earthly father was a handyman, and his mother was just a teenage girl from a working class family in Nazareth - “What good ever came out of Nazareth?” says Nathaniel when a friend offers him an introduction to Jesus (John 1:46). He had a rag-tag group of misfits and social rejects for followers, and eventually he died the death of a common criminal.

 It’s not lost on me in my work as a career coach that most of us would prefer to avoid being small. No one aspires to be the runt of the litter, or to be easily dismissed or overlooked. The pain of being the last one chosen for sports, children’s games, for a date or a job is widely understood because so many have experienced the feeling of being regarded as “less-than” or “not-enough”. Most (or all) human beings long to be regarded as significant and valuable. 

I have a friend who started his own business. One day he earnestly prayed that God would make his business thrive and make him successful. He told me that to his surprise he heard God tell him, “Nope. I’m not going to do that.” He was dumbstruck. Eventually he asked God “Why not?”. He said he heard God say, “Success the way the world defines it would ruin you”. “But I tell you what”, God continued, “I will make your life fruitful”.

 It’s a principle I find everywhere in the bible, and especially in Jesus’ teaching: Small things that make big impacts. 

It takes real grit to be content with being small. Every day you must do battle with the insecurities that promote wanting your name in lights. It’s too easy to let a desire to be loved morph into a desire for security or praise or admiration or notoriety or power. To be content with being small you must first get those needs met somewhere else and then constantly remind yourself that your value isn’t defined by what most people say about you or by what you produce. Contentment with being small requires confidence in a larger plan and the one who dreamed it up, and some days it takes faith that the things promised will actually work out that way.

 Can you be content with your life being small? Or maybe I should rephrase the question: Can you be content with having a life that appears to be small, if living it will lead to being fruitful and impactful?

 The whole Christmas story was lived out by people who were content with being small and had faith that the improbable things that were promised regarding their lives would someday come true. And they did.

 So, some twenty-three-hundred years later it’s my sincere wish that you and yours have a very Merry Christmas and that you have a small, but fruitful, New Year!