In this space last week we looked at the eighth Biblical pattern for a lifetime of purpose as presented by Robert J. Morgan in his book “Mastering Life Before It’s Too Late.” The ninth pattern is “Practice the Power of Plodding.” Morgan recounts that Anthony Trollope was a nineteenth-century writer who helped reform the British postal service by introducing pillar boxes so people could easily mail letters. “Trollope summarized the secret of his success in one telling sentence: ‘A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labors of a spasmodic Hercules.’ In his autobiography, Trollope said he had never fancied himself a man of genius, but he had understood one thing – the power of the water drop to hollow the stone.”
Morgan writes: “Appreciating smallness doesn’t mean settling for mediocrity, downsizing our dreams, or allowing our vision to sink to the lowest denominator. But size doesn’t matter as much as we think, whereas service matters more than we realize. The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve; and true fulfillment is found in the will of God – nothing more and nothing less.
Missionary William Carey is a prime example. He was born in an obscure English village in the 1700s. As a child, he was sickly, afflicted by numerous allergies, and sensitive to the sun. He was also poorly educated. Entering adolescence, William frequently got into trouble. He married, but his wife developed mental illness. He contracted a dread disease that left him entirely bald. He was the town cobbler, but his business failed. He tried teaching school but didn’t succeed. He pastored a church, but his sermons weren’t well received. He developed a passion for overseas missions and felt God calling him to go abroad, but his fellow ministers were opposed. When he did make it to India, his wife lost her mind, his co-worker mishandled their funds, and he encountered a thousand obstacles.”
Reading this, I realized that the challenges that I face pale in comparison to what William Carey endured. Robert Morgan continues: “But fast-forward to the end of the story. William Carey laboured faithfully in India for forty-one years, dying there at age seventy-three. When all was said and done, as his biographer points out, he had translated the complete Bible into six languages, and portions of the Bible into twenty-nine others. He had founded over one hundred rural schools for the people of India. He had established Serampore College, which is still training ministers to this day. He had introduced the concept of a savings bank to the farmers of India. He had published the first Indian newspaper. He had written dictionaries and grammars in five different languages … As Mary Drewery wrote in her gripping account of Carey’s life, ‘The number of actual conversions attributed to him is pathetically small; the number indirectly attributable to him must be legion.’”
Have you felt discouraged lately? Ask the Lord to help you to keep your eyes on Him and His will for your life. As William Carey said: “There are grave difficulties on every hand and more are looming ahead. Therefore we must go forward.”
Scripture for the weekend: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2 (KJV)
Thought for the weekend: “Is your place a small place? Tend it with care! He set you there. Is your place a large place? Guard it with care! He set you there. Whatever your place, it is not yours alone, but His Who set you there.” – John Oxenham