Happy Monday. “You may not be able to do great things, but you can do small things in a great way.” – Unknown.
Do you ever feel that no one knows you exist? Does it seem as if life is just so “daily”?
The many duties of being a caregiver, rearing children, and balancing the myriad of “stuff” every day becomes so wearisome. It is important to stop and remember that to the child of God, as Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. said, “All ground is holy ground.” Each of our lives have a far more reaching impact than we can possibly foresee; we are here …for such a time as this… (Esther 4:14)
I love the story of the hymn “Brighten the Corner Where You Are” and how it was written. Ina Ogdon dreamed as a girl of speaking to great audiences and swaying them with her eloquence. However, God gave her a different assignment. Her father became an invalid, and she took the hidden place as his nurse. Upon accepting this, she wrote from her heart:
“Do not wait until some deed of greatness you may do,
Do not wait to shed your light afar,
To the many duties ever near you now be true,
Brighten the corner where you are.”
The chorus concludes:
“Someone far from harbor you may guide across the bar;
Brighten the corner where you are!”
Little did she know how far her song would travel. The great evangelist Billy Sunday used her hymn in many of his revivals which had crowds packed into venues by the thousands.
Dr. Vance Havner said, “So many of us are not big enough to become little enough to be used of God.” We all have those in our lives who have influenced us greatly whose names will never be known on this earth, but they gave what they had—availability.
What if Michelangelo had said, “I don’t do ceilings”?
What if Noah had said, “I don’t do boats”?
What if Moses had said, “I don’t do rivers”?
What if David had said, “I don’t do Goliaths”?
What if John the Baptist had said, “I don’t do baptisms”?
What if Paul had said, “I don’t do letters”?
Friend, where would we be if Jesus had said, “I don’t do crosses”?
by Beverly Hyles
From the Mondays with Beverly blog. Reprinted with permission.