Get Small

Over and over again throughout the past year, God has reminded me to get small. 

Far from a statement about God's assessment of my worth - I am wonderfully made; wonderful are God's works (Psalm 139:14) - this message brings me great encouragement and hope. 

I often feel overwhelmed with the volume of work on my desk. I frequently find myself frustrated with having a lot of responsibility but limited power. I routinely doubt that anything I have or can do will have any sort of impact on the world. 

Thankfully, in these moments I have heard God whisper to my heart: Get small. 

Minister to the people that God has put in my life right now. Love and serve and lead and encourage and support and guide those in front of me right now. Like St. Teresa of Kolkata exhorted in her 1979 Nobel Prize acceptance speech, "And if we really believe, we will begin to love. And if we love, naturally, we will try to do something. First in our own home, our next door neighbor, in the country we live, in the whole world." 

Use the resources that I have - gifts and talents, positional authority, experiences - and allow the God of the universe to use them for His glory. He can feed thousands with five loaves and two fish. He can surely use my feeble efforts and assets to accomplish His work. Similarly, regardless of the amount of power I can wield, I have the ability to thoughtfully communicate and purposefully inform those in decision-making positions, influencing them in life-giving and mission-advancing ways. 

"Given the smallest things / It’s wild what God can do" (https://youtu.be/-soTNi3XZbM?si=MvR26JESwDmc1PWe).  

Do the work that God has entrusted me to do to the best of my abilities. God has called me to be the best Associate Superintendent for Secondary Schools that I can be. As such, I am called to lead and serve schools in the Diocese of Cleveland by designing systems and developing leaders. God hasn't called me to be the presidents or principals of our schools. I'm not called to evangelize the entire diocese. I'm not being called to cure cancer or ease our country's political tensions. 

Get small and watch what God can do. 

This isn't defeatist. It's apostolic. 

"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible" (St. Francis of Assisi).

Of One Accord

One of my weekly faith formation activities includes listening to the weekly sermon from Levi Lusko. A Protestant preacher at a church in Montana, I appreciate Levi's gift of connecting scripture with history and culture. In my estimation, he masterfully intertwines relevance with orthodoxy. 

This past week, being a few episodes behind, I providentially listened to his message entitled "There's No 'I' in Awesome." The main takeaway follows: "There's no 'I' in awesome, but there is a 'we'."

There is a "we" in awesome. In fact, the only way for us to be truly awesome necessitates unity with God and others.

Focusing on Psalm 133 (see below), Levi exhorts us to recognize the incredible power of communion.

How good and how pleasant it is, when brethren dwell together as one! Like fine oil on the head, running down upon the beard, upon the beard of Aaron, upon the collar of his robe. Like dew of Hermon coming down upon the mountains of Zion. There the LORD has decreed a blessing, life for evermore! (Psalm 133)

When we come together in collaboration, uniting around God's mission for our schools, amazing things result: oil - a sign of anointing - overflows in abundance; dew travels over 100 miles of desert conditions to bring "life for evermore!"

Mount Hermon in the north down to Mount Zion, about 120 miles. 

This type of unity takes effort. Levi encourages us to fight to stay tight with the right people.

This type of unity isn't easy, but it is worth it. 

Anchor and commit to communal prayer. 

Communicate your mission, beliefs, and values. 

Communicate them again. 

And again. 

With great clarity in both your words and the actions of both you and your organization. Operationalize your mission, beliefs, and values in your school's policies, procedures, and programs. Allow people to know what you believe by watching and listening to what you do and say.  

Like the apostles huddled in the upper room, waiting for the gift of the Holy Spirit, remain united in prayer to the great call - the Great Commission - we have received through Christ. "All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer" (Acts 1:14). "When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together" (Acts 2:1).

And, like the apostles filled with the Holy Spirit, let us go out and "accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us" (Ephesians 3:20).

United. Of one accord. To Christ's mission. For the glory of God.