Here for the least: it makes up our lives

For about a year I’ve been contemplating my spot on the internet. Why am I here? Do I need to be here? I watched amazing people do things I love on the internet and knew that the world didn’t need me to do that thing too.

During that same year, I’ve consistently needed the same message in my life. Do not quit. Keep going. Be faithful in the small things. I also discovered that everyone else seems to need that same message. I have Voxer conversations with my friends about how we spend our time reminding ourselves that all this small work matters. I hear people on podcasts say that quitting is the big temptation that they face. I post on Instagram and people across all categories say they struggle to remember it too: the little things are the big things. We know it, but it’s hard to live it well.

Here’s what I keep telling myself: I can’t quit. Can I be honest? Quitting often sounds really awesome. And while there is a part of me that is tired and wants to quit, there is a little whisper, deep down, that reminds me that it’s imperative that I do not quit. That I do it all again today. That I refocus my attention to these little things, these least things, and how I’m doing them.

We humans are the ones that think big matters. That we need platforms or followers or stages. That people need to know our names or we need big results for the work to count. But Jesus said, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much.” (Luke 16:10) He calls us to faithfulness, not fame. We overlook the value of the small. Our lives drift right by, buried under the repetitive demands of trying to exist well.

We don’t see that the mountain of small things in front of us every day is shaping our characters and the trajectory of our lives. We’re doing kingdom work right here in the least of all the things, in the places we don’t think matter, with the people we aren’t sure we’re impacting. What we consider the least is making up the most. I’m going to try something new, and I’d love for you to come along too. We’re going to build our lives around these small, least things. We are going to start and end with the little things. We are going to notice the little things. We are going to do little things on purpose. We are going to preach to ourselves the important of the least every single day so that we don’t quit.

If I’ve learned anything else this year, it’s that community matters. What has helped me not quit is telling someone else that I would really like to and letting them preach truth to me. It’s been knowing that some people are praying for me. It’s been hearing their stories of how they would like to quit but they aren’t.

The more serious I’ve gotten about serving God, the harder it has become to serve God. There is opposition without and resistance within. Often, it has been the people I’ve linked arms with that have helped hold me upright. There’s a reason our faith is communal; we need each other. We are walking each other home.

It would be easier for me to go out in a blaze of glory for Jesus tomorrow. To do one big drastic thing and give my life for the Gospel and go see Jesus. A life of daily following terrifies me because it seems so easy to get off track. It is so easy to lose sight of what matters. It would be so easy to miss the least waiting for that big blaze of glory. But we are called to the least: to be servants doing small things over and over until we see Jesus.

Here’s to persevering in our mountains of small work. The least makes up our lives.