Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Little is Something

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are too little to be among
the clans of Judah…

Micah 5:2

“Little is much when God is in it” is a phrase I heard frequently while growing up. It was full of hope and promise. It's comforting knowing that in a culture where "bigger is better" in God's world size doesn’t matter, amount isn’t quantified and quantity isn’t valued. If at the heart of the matter God resides endless possibilities exist.

Throughout the Bible there are accounts of people who gave abundantly out of their little. Elijah prepared a meal with the last of a woman’s oil and flour - she ends up with enough money to feed her entire family for several months. Rahab offers protection under a pile of straw and her name reappears as the woman who helped change the course of a nation. A widow gives a couple of coins amounting to less than a cent and her life turns into a lesson of abundant giving.

Then there is Bethlehem, whose line of historical significance is limited but whose impact is profound. A young boy sleeps with his sheep and calls Bethlehem home and becomes the King of Israel. And while Bethlehem may be mentioned later no one really thinks much of it because there isn’t much to think about!

Bethlehem is small and seemingly of no consequence until it shows again that little is much when God is in it. Bethlehem, out of its “little” gave in abundance to a world and its residents an event of such significance that nothing could or would ever be the same.

You overcome the odds, God!
Help me not to think in terms
of how little I might have
but how my little could affect
a change that mattered.
Amen.

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