I came across this series of sermon by Pastor Craig Groeschel last year. It's a four-part series that he preached four years ago. A few minutes into the talk, he mentioned this line and it instantly captured my attention that made me continue on for the rest of the series. He said,

it's often the small things that no one sees that result in the big things that everyone wants.

It's so true, isn't it? Living in a culture that emphasizes so much on the measurable results, we often define success by looking at the size of crowds one can attract and the scope of influence achieved. Pastor Craig used three familiar biblical examples to bring across the point.

David was able to defeat Goliath because of his faithful years attending sheep and fighting off wild animals.
"Ruth was faithful to Naomi when she didn't have to be, when it would have been easier not to be." And her faithfulness brought her to Boaz eventually.
Daniel was able to stand up for his faith because he had been keeping up his daily practice of praying three times a day.

it's often the small things that no one sees that result in the big things that everyone wants.

In last post, I mentioned about new year resolution. This is a practice that many have attempted at the turn of each year, but only to find ourselves defeated at the end of the year. You may find each January the gym is full of people, but as the year unfolds, some may choose to move from the trackmill to the chip aisle in supermarkets. When left unguarded, it's human nature to have the tendency to drift . . . Indeed, staying in the course doesn't come effortlessly. It require us to be intentional, discipline and with tenacity.

At the end of Pastor Craig's first talk, he brought up an idea that would bring tremendous power in staying on track and remaining focus. He suggested not to set big new year resolution goals, instead, seek ONE WORD from God, just ONE WORD. And that ONE WORD will become your focus of the year. And you build all you do surrounding that ONE WORD.

Since I watched this clip last year, I started pondering that thought on and off, though it is not until we stepped into the new year that I have firmed up that ONE WORD. My word for the year is "LISTEN." I want to strive to be a better listener at home, at work and learn to be more sensitive to divine whispers.

I wanna close with a personal experience about the power of focusing on that ONE WORD. One day I asked my boy to name one thing that he would like mommy to change to become a better mom. And what he said strike a chord of my heart and I took it very seriously to act upon. He said, "You have spent a lot of time with us, but it's more the time taking care of us. It would be nice if you can spend more FUN TIME with us." I grew up without much fun moments with my parents and spending fun time with my kids doesn't come naturally. And so, I asked one of my coworkers who is more fun to be my accountability partner and she started giving me small exercises to arrange fun time with my kids. Before long, the small actions created momentum of its own and I start sensing an inner drive to keep that going without the reminders of my accountability partner. Just this last week, I went laser tagging with my kids the first time; we played freesbie in the park . . . I used to merely bring them to the fun places, but now I play them in those places. And it dawns on me that fun time in their mind is small things, it's the moment when we truly turn our eyes upon them, have our hands free from the media distractions, our mind cleared from work and truly LISTEN and BE WITH THEM.

it's often the small things that no one sees that result in the big things that everyone wants.

If you truly focus on that ONE WORD and persistently sustain it through this year, you would be amazed how much a FOCUS PATH can bring you. Let us live through this year intentionally. If you are interested to the talk, here is the link to talk #1 on "Small Things, Big Difference." Enjoy! Small Things, Big Difference 1