The righteous say little but do much

When I was in Israel Matt gave me for Christmas an amazing commentary on the first five books of the bible, the Torah. I’ve been slowly reading through it since it’s pretty deep. But that was one thing that they mentioned twice and it really stuck out to me. If you look at somebody like Laban he talks a lot and makes a lot of promises but doesn’t really deliver much. But Abraham really doesn’t say too much but his whole life is characterized by amazing steps of faith and great deeds. 

I realized that I talk too much. 

I have a lot of noble plans and lofty ideas, but very often in my life I don’t do too much of real significance. It comforts me and helps me feel justified in just talking about great things, but I realized that if I really want to be a righteous man I need to be a man of action and less words. Often I pass over the little acts and just wait for the moments that I can do something big that would mean a lot to a person. Then I read this quote by Graham Cooke. 

Too many small things only, makes love 

ordinary. Only doing the big, grand gesture makes 

love unpredictable and inconsistent. Both together 

keep it special. 

On the race every moment is filled with opportunity, if I think about it for too long I can get almost overwhelmed. So often I don’t take the time to write little encouragement notes, or do something thoughtful, or write a prophecy for them. It’s a lot easier to just drift by. That’s something this month that I’m trying to fight against, fight against distractions, and against the desire to pass over the small acts of love and wait only for the big moments. I decided to write my mission goal for this month as a story after reading this blog by Donald Miller

http://donmilleris.com/2010/04/30/if-youre-life-were-a-movie/

David is idealistic, passionate, and filled with faith. He wants to see God move and his teammates step into their destinies this month. However he generally pushes aside the little ways to do this to wait for the big moments, which are more rare in coming. Will he be able to push aside facebook and movies to stay focused and do the little acts of love this month? Even in a hostel with free wireless internet? Will he be able to see his dreams come true?

I really like this method of goal setting in the form of a story. It stirs me up to really focus and live to the fullest this month, even though the race is almost over and thoughts of home come easier to mind. What is your story?