Make ripples.

“GOD CHOSE THE WEAK THINGS.” 1 CORINTHIANS 1:27 NIV

The story’s told of Elzéard Bouffier, a 55-year-old widower who lived in a French village in 1910, surrounded by poverty and despair. So he did something; he collected thousands of acorns and planted them throughout the area. When they took root, he cultivated beeches. When they became saplings, he planted birches. One day, amidst the death and devastation of World War I, a mysterious grey mist appeared on the horizon. It was the oaks of 1910, below them the adolescent beeches, and below them the tiny birch seedlings. Bouffier kept planting, and at the end of World War II, French environmentalists announced that a “natural forest” had “mysteriously” sprung up, flourishing amidst its barren surroundings. But the story doesn’t end there; his forest started a chain reaction. Water flowed in brooks that had dried up. The wind scattered seeds, and willows, rushes, meadows and gardens sprang up. New people came to live there, bringing with them hope and prosperity. Elzéard Bouffier found acorns, planted them, and God did the rest.

God can do much with little. Look what He did for David with a sling and a stone. Watch Him feed five thousand with a boy’s lunch. And He will do the same for you! Your life is like a pebble: it may not look like much, but drop it into a pond and watch the ripples spread in every direction.

Every day you have three options: (a) Think only of yourself and your own interest. (b) Since success doesn’t come without the possibility of failure, take no risks and go no further. (c) Ask God to show you what you’ve got, then use it to make ripples.