Doing Much with Little
19 May 2023I’ve always found reading and reflecting to be my favorite way to connect with God, and so I’ve decided to study the life of Elijah in the Bible as a way to reconnect with my spiritual side. (It was a pretty arbitrary choice–I just needed something to study, and I don’t know Elijah’s story all that well!).
One of the first stories about Elijah’s life is about a widow providing food for him to eat, even though she and her son were on the brink of starvation.
There was a major drought going on, and Elijah (instructed by God) tells the widow that the tiny bit of flour and oil she has left won’t run out until the drought is over. And, somehow, it doesn’t!
You can read the story here if you’re curious.
I had a couple take-aways from this story that I wanted to share.
Doing Much with Little
This story includes a concept that seems to recur throughout the Bible–that God can accomplish a lot with only a little, and even seems to prefer to operate that way? (I mean, why not send Elijah to someone with plenty of food to spare, instead of an impoverished woman on the brink??)
This perspective put me off at first–I feel like I belong under the “capable and resourceful” category, so I’m not sure where this really applies for me, personally.
But then I recognized a pain point in my life where I think this applies quite well.
I think I have a gift for being open and honest about my experiences and struggles, and to share about them through writing. When I think about where I can do the most good with what I have, this is what tends to bubble up to the surface.
It is painful, though, how little time and energy I seem to have for these things! The many responsibilities of adult life absorb so much time, and I often find myself feeling resentful about it.
How much more reason must this widow have had to feel resentful?! To have her dreams for her life made impossible by the lack of her most basic needs being met!
But she did the meager amount of good that she felt she was supposed to do, and it had an enormous impact.
Even the Best Laid Plans…
The story says that God was withholding rain in order to create a famine that would get the attention of the Israelites.
Israel had a whole infrastructure, I assume, for getting food to its people reliably. I’m sure the farmers worked hard to plan things out and try to get the most from their crops. But without rain, they were (in trouble? Totally screwed? I don’t really know how farming worked back then 🤷♂️😅).
My dream would be to feel like I had my life and schedule fully under control, getting help to take care of my normal life responsibilities, and maybe even a small team to help with publishing and promoting content. I could have 40hrs a week open in my schedule just for doing this work of writing and sharing, and feel like a creative monster–all set to execute on all of my ideas and become prolific and maybe even influential.
And yet, something could happen that would negate all of that, and prevent me from accomplishing much of anything!
Acceptance and Hope
I want to let go of my resentment over life’s many burdens and interruptions; to accept them. My experience with these is pretty normal! Feeling bitter about it won’t help anything.
What’s more, I want to find hope in the widow’s story–that if I give what I can, even if it seems small, that God may multiply those efforts. Maybe even far beyond what I’d expect!
Feeding Elijah First
There’s one other detail to her story that I think is worth applying in my life.
Elijah tells the widow to make him some bread first, and then to feed herself and her son.
What a horrible thing to ask of a starving family! He passes on God’s promise that the bread won’t run out, sure, but why not prove it to her first before making her feed Elijah?
It seems to me like a kind of test–that God wants this widow to have faith and to trust, rather than making her feel totally secure about it first.
Side note on Over-extending
I don’t think that part of the intended lesson here is that we should always be overextending ourselves in our giving, and trust that God has our back and will miraculously resupply us.
I think what’s different about this story from our day-to-day lives is that God was pretty explicit about what she was supposed to do (and explicit that she would be provided for!).
I think if God wanted you or I to do something like this widow–to give up absolutely everything and risk being unable to even provide for ourselves, that the prompting to do this would be similarly miraculous and abundantly clear.
We don’t usually receive that, though, right? I think, instead, we’re meant to use our best judgment in doing what we think God would want, and giving what we think we can afford to give.
I think an unhealthy message that I absorbed growing up in Christian culture was a call to always over-extend yourself and to expect God to provide (because whatever you’re trying to do is clearly what God wants to happen? 🤨). I think it contributed to my struggles with perfectionism, and feelings of shame that “I’m never doing / giving enough!”
I think it would be great if we Christians could continue to encourage each other to be generous, but also to know our limits and be assertive about them, and not feel ashamed that we aren’t able to do more.
Giving First
Back to my own life…
I think the limited amount of time I can find to write has been discouraging me lately from even bothering to try. So I haven’t been!
Instead of giving up, I want to find a way to give a little bit that I do think I can afford, and to hope that my efforts will have a positive impact, maybe even more of one than I would expect!
And I think it makes sense for me to give that little bit first (before moving on to less charitable creative work) rather than seeing what time I have leftover for it.
Maybe it means that I spend my first creative hour or two each week working on sharing. Or maybe that every couple months I do something like this blog post before moving on to my other (more self-serving) creative efforts.
I think I can afford that, especially if I avoid being overly-ambitious and keep this “a little can go a long way” perspective in mind.
I started out writing this post feeling like I would only have time to put together something pretty lackluster that would feel pathetic. Now that I’m done, I think I’m pretty happy with what I’ve written, and ok with the amount of time it took!
What Could You Give?
How about you–is there something that you have to offer the world, but you feel like your talent or resources are too meager to bother trying?