JUST ‘A LITTLE’

Hello there dear gist partner. 

How are you doing this fine Thursday? How is the new year looking for you? Here’s hoping you’ve began making the most of the year, even from these first days. 

Welcome to today’s gist. 

Do you know God has a wry sense of humour? He reminded me of that fact a couple of days ago. 

Have you ever been in the situation where your alarm rang but you decided to go for one last snooze or maybe put it off so that you’ll wake up by the next alarm? Then you go come wake up hours later😂. This was the temptation I was faced with on Tuesday. My alarm woke me up somewhat properly at 4:47am and I was already going to snooze it again when I realized that I was about to play a dangerous game –sleep fit carry me go and I no go hear the alarm then I go come wake up by 7am! I just give myself sense stand up. 

And where did my Bible study take me to that morning? Proverbs 6. Let me quote what verses 10 and 11 say: “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.” (ESV) (this was one of my father’s favourite portions of scripture when he wanted to drive home the point of hard work, alongside “go to the ant, you sluggard”😅😅). 

Come on😂😂. 

You have to admit it is actually funny! I took a moment to laugh at the fact that I had to come across these 2 verses on the very day where I almost went back for ‘a little’ more sleep. 

But then after my laugh, here’s what I learnt: ‘little’ decisions are actually what end up causing great, sometimes grave, impact in life. It’s easy to laugh off little compromises: “no be just to do XYZ?” “What is the big deal?” The truth is that in and off themselves, these ‘little’ compromises may not seem like a big deal. But when you combine a group of such ‘little’ compromises, the impact is great! 

It’s the beginning of the year and already most of us have drafted our vision boards/new year resolutions/goals for the year/prayer points for the year, or at least are in the process of doing so, and that is a good strategy. 

But have you ever noticed that sometimes somewhere along in the year, you begin to make excuses for ‘little’ acts of deviation from the plan? ‘A little’ extra time on social media that ends up being 3, 4 or even 5 hours. ‘A little’ flirtation that lands you in sexual sin. ‘A little’ flenjor that ends up removing a very substantial amount from your account balance and you’re struggling to recover. ‘A little’ gossip that ends up landing you in trouble for slander. ‘A little’ joke that ends up ruining your relationship with someone… the list goes on. Usually, at the start of these ‘little’ things, it may seem like harmless indulgence, but as you continue to ‘harmlessly’ indulge ‘a little’ more, you begin to shift the goal post, you begin to cross boundaries and you end up somewhere so far of the mark that you’re struggling to come to terms with how you got there. 

And when you look back, you’ll probably won’t be able to pinpoint that one big thing you did that got you there, and why? Because it wasn’t necessarily a big step that got you there, it was a combination of ‘little’ decisions, each one just ‘a little’ more of a deviation from the last, but here you are! This is why the Bible talks about the little foxes that destroy the vine (Songs  of Solomon 2:15), they’re usually not as easily noticeable as the big foxes, but boy do they do A LOT of damage!

But there’s a flip side to doing ‘a little’: putting ‘a little’ extra effort, taking ‘a little’ more time to prepare, being ‘a little’ more cautious, being ‘a little’ more obedient, studying ‘a little’ more, praying ‘a little’ more, working ‘a little’ harder, or maybe ‘a little’ smarter, being ‘a little quieter’, talking ‘a little’ less, listening ‘a little’ more, reaching out ‘a little’ more frequently, being ‘a little’ more understanding… these, and others in their category, are the kinds of ‘little’ that is advisable because they help you on the path to becoming who you’re called to be. 

So you see, dear gist partner, our lives are a comprised of never-ending series of ‘little’ decisions that end up having a profound effect in our lives and destiny. So, where on the spectrum of ‘a little’ will you be found: ‘a little’ more productive or ‘a little’ more hazardous? Avoid ‘a little’ anything wey no good, don’t do ‘a little’ extra than what is needed and necessary, that ‘little’ fit land you for where you no go fit explain. 

If you’re here and you haven’t received Jesus in your heart, the first ‘little’ decision you need to make is to receive Jesus into your heart, that’s where life begins to get good, and eternity gets secured, from; you can receive Jesus into your heart today: simply come to Him in sincerity, confess your sins to Him, tell Him that you believe in Him and in His power to save you, ask Him into your heart and pledge to live life going forward with Him fully involved and according to His terms. On this ‘little’ decision is where your eternity is hinged, no take am play. 

May God help us to be very mindful of the ‘little’ decisions we make. 

TUNES AND THOUGHTS: our song recommendation for this week is ‘Tell everybody’ by Sounds of Salem. I don’t believe there’s been an official audio release of the song yet but I saw a video of the song on YouTube and I don watch am sotey body suppose don dey pain them. There’s a line in the song that goes; “and all the things wey Jesus do for me, I go tell everybody”. This song is a challenge to me to be more vocal about my testimony; I have such a bad habit of being really quiet about things, if at all I would share, it would be just with my closest friends and usually my excuse was that I didn’t want to come off as being proud. But I am learning that such  behavior isn’t good thing and that I need to be more open about God’s blessings to me and I going to do better. I pray that your heart is blessed and that you’re motivated to be more open about sharing your testimony of what God is doing. 

YouTube: https://youtu.be/-pNVCoFuS4Q?si=NgYtA8V2JPfOvi4R 

On Monday was my father’s birthday, he would have been 71…. From Sunday till Wednesday, I’ve been on autopilot and barely functioning. Meeting that day without my father being here opened me up to a new layer of grief. All I can say is that God still remains faithful. Please continue to pray for God’s strength and comfort upon anyone dealing with the loss of a loved one, it really isn’t easy. 

Well, that is that about that as far as that is concerned, see you next week!

Love, 

Achenyo.