Resolved: Start Small

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“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.”
– Zechariah 4:10 (NLT)

I learned a lot about small beginnings from my all-time most successful New Years resolution. Some 40 years ago I resolved, “I like to bake; therefore, I will bake. Every week. At least a tray of biscuits.”

That resolution sounds simple enough to be silly, doesn’t it? Why resolve to do something that you like? And it sounds small enough to be almost meaningless. If I stuck to biscuits, I’d be committed to just 30 minutes a week. If I got bored, cookies, cakes, or bread counted, too. And the resolution brought intrinsic rewards: I got to eat what I made!

Those intrinsic rewards were what I wanted. Since graduation, I’d been striving so hard to establish myself professionally and financially that I was exhausted. I was emotionally exhausted from what I call “roommate roulette”-- the constant household changes every unmarried person experiences as one friend after another leaves for grad school or a job, gets married, or heads to the mission field. I needed to commit to something that brought me joy and was entirely under my own control.

I quickly gave up on biscuits, because, as it turned out, my biscuits were truly terrible. But I made cookies for every possible occasion. I made birthday cakes. Eventually, I got good enough to make wedding cakes. At this point, I’ve made more than two dozen towering tier cakes, almost all as gifts to the bride.

All that baking success came from a very small beginning. I committed to bake at least a tray of biscuits every week. When the biscuits didn’t work, I baked something else. I resolved to bake because I liked to do it.

When we resolve to make even a small beginning in something we enjoy, we’re honoring the person God made us to be. So If I’m yearning for better friendships, I could resolve to text encouragement to one person a week. If I want to better enjoy the material goods God has given me, I could resolve to notice how the kitchen floor shines when newly washed. If I want to practice small beginnings year-round, I might start a tray or two of seeds in winter and then watch them grow tall in my summer garden.

God has made you the person you are, with all your longings and all your capabilities. With God, resolve to delight in the small beginnings you can choose this new year.

Questions for Reflection:

1. How could you explore and grow the person God made you to be? Is there something that helps you experience joy that you could do more often? Something you could enjoy more by practicing new skills? How could you resolve to grow in these ways?

2. Since God does not despise “small beginnings,” can you agree that making a small beginning in your own life is OK? How tiny a resolution can you make with confidence that you can achieve it?