Thinking big

WHILE we have to take care of the little and ordinary things of the day, we should neither forget that we also have to be concerned about the big things that can involve us. We have to be wary of unwittingly being held hostage by our duty towards little things that can blind us of our duty to aim also at the big and extraordinary things in life. We should be ready for this call.

Christ himself is the epitome of this attitude. While he took care of the little details in his dealings with the people, he saw to it that he never confined himself to these details. Yes, he cured many people of their illnesses, but made sure that he attended first to the most important thing—the forgiveness of their sins.

He also did not allow himself to get stuck in a certain place, but went to other places to preach. In the end, he sent his apostles to go to the whole world to preach.

Of course, we should not forget that even the very ordinary and common little things of the day can assume extraordinary significance if done with great love for God and for others. In this regard, we should be contented and happy doing the little things even if they do not give some earthly reward or recognition. That would indicate the rectitude of intention with which we do them.

Just the same, we should also be ready to tackle the big and extraordinary duties in our life. Actually, it is when we are faithful in the little things that we can be prepared to face the big challenges of life. The little, simple and ordinary things can serve as training to handle the big, complicated and extraordinary things.

The big, complicated and extraordinary things can be in the area of managing people, motivating them, charting the course of one’s career, expanding the network of apostolic work, influencing the temper of our business and politics, generating employment for many people, establishing linkages to different sectors, breaking new grounds in business, etc.

With all the developments taking place at the moment, we can imagine a lot of opportunities opening up in the near future, and we should be ready to seize and take advantage of them. We need to sharpen our skills in observation and perception, creativity and innovation, flexibility and toughness.

For all this, we have to be willing to make a lot of prayers and sacrifices, always discerning what the Holy Spirit is prompting us. We should also be unstinting in our efforts at studying, researching and experimenting. We have to be sport since definitely we will encounter not only difficulties but also failures that should not prevent us from moving on, reinventing ourselves if necessary.

This attitude of toughness and cleverness should not undermine the simplicity that is also necessary for us. We have to learn how to be patient and to abandon ourselves in the hands of God whose providence is ever wise and powerful.

In thinking big, we should never abandon God at all. On the contrary, we should always abandon ourselves to him, so that we don’t get spoiled when we happen to be successful or get depressed when we fail. We just have to go on, doing a lot of good!