Lent Day 23 – Thinking Big, Playing Small

I’m a future-oriented person. Some call it being a visionary, others call it being a daydreamer. I’m not sure which is which. I have a lot of big thoughts and big ideas. Some of the bigness of the ideas and thoughts border on grandiosity. I dream of all kinds of opportunities, programs, organizations, events, experiences, etc. The world in my mind is full of possibilities! Then there is the actual world of my actions, which is governed much more by my fears, insecurities and excuses. Though I love to think big, acting on many of those thoughts terrifies me. Most days, I’m not honest with myself and make a list of a thousand “legitimate” reasons (excuses) why my thoughts can't make it to the reality of actions. It is a terrible place to live. It is a place of the oppression of potential energy without kinetic energy. Dreams without action is can crush hope, motivation and frustrate the will. It is also a breeding ground for insecurity. And, it is insecurity that keeps big thoughts trapped in the fearful cage of the mind. So, being risk adverse and vulnerability resistant, I prefer to play it safe, which is playing it small. Big thoughts don’t work in tight spaces. Simply put, I love to think big and play small.

Over and over, throughout God’s grand narrative, people are given a glimpse, vision or idea of a great idea in the world. A new land to settle, an oppressed people to liberate, a scary enemy to defeat, an adventure to go on and really cool things to build. There are always oppositions and conflicts heavily leaning against God’s visons and ideas. He gives big thoughts and then says, “GO BIG!” The trick is, the GO BIG! always comes with a risk. The map is usually revealed an inch at a time into an unknown territory and the manual is either impossibly hard or incomplete. The challenge is to “go in faith”, to play big and trust in the giver of big thoughts. All great accomplishments started as a thought, a big thought. Someone was thinking big. However, all great accomplishments had big actions to make the thoughts real. That takes faith.

The Biblical writer James says it so succinctly, “As the body without the Spirit is dead, so faith without action is dead” (James 2:26). Today, God is asking me to keep thinking big, but don’t put too much stock in it. He is calling to play big with faith-driven actions to back it up. So, I will look for opportunity to tangibly meet needs, make the phone calls, have critical conversations and will engage in creative action. I will move into more meaningful risk and vulnerability. I will do something outside my comfort zone to get movement on my big thoughts. Ready, set, “GO BIG!”