Reflection on Readings: Great Things Come in Small Packages ... in Due Time

Today's readings are perfectly summarized below:

“Remember that the most difficult tasks are consummated, not by a single explosive burst of energy or effort, but by consistent daily application of the best you have within you.”

Og Mandino

The Greatest Miracle in the World

Step-by-Step to Greatness:

• Be small. (Acknowledge your littleness)

"Thus says the Lord God:  I, too, will take from the crest of the cedar, from its topmost branches tear off a tender shoot ..." (Ezekiel 17:22)

"It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds of the earth." (Mark 4:31)

• Be open and conducive for growth. (Knowledge is not Wisdom)

"... and plant it on a high and lofty mountain; on the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it." (Ezekiel 17:23)

"They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of God." (Psalm 92:12-14)

• CRITICAL: Allow God to work on and in you.

"... and through it all the seed would grow, he knows not how.  Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear." (Mark 4:27-28)

• Be patient and give it time.

"... it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day ... And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come " (Mark 4:26,29)

"... for we walk by faith, not by sight ..." (2 Corinthians 5:7)

• Be what God intended you to be.  (Take pride in who you are, your capabilities and the part you play in His plan)

"It shall put forth branches and bear fruit, and become a majestic cedar.  Birds of every kind shall dwell beneath it, every winged thing in the shade of its boughs." (Ezekiel 17:23)

"They shall bear fruit even in old age, vigorous and sturdy they shall be, declaring how just is the Lord, my rock, in whom there is no wrong." (Psalm 92:15-16)

"But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell on its shade." (Mark 4:32)