Small Beginnings
A couple of days ago, I had the privilege to watch an online message by Pastor Chris Mendez, lead Pastor of Hillsong Church South and Latin America.
During the message, of which the main theme was out of the nothing, great blessings will come, one of the key points Pastor Chris highlighted, was not to forget the small beginnings.
That point made me stood still for a few moments, for there were many times in the past I pondered why specifically I ended up volunteering at Hillsong Church Stellenbosch, for at the time when I joined the volunteer team, it was still one of the smaller Hillsong locations in South Africa.
As we are stepping into 2021, this being the third week of January, I am once again reflecting on this – the small beginnings.
One thing that comes to mind is that when you understand your small beginning, that it will help you stay grounded, when things like envy and its cousin, jealousy, come for a visit. It is sometimes difficult to focus on the pathway ahead when you find yourself in a state of comparison, when you feel envious of someone, or towards someone else’s story seemingly moving forward whilst you are left behind.
The thing is that life is not a sprint, rather it is more like a marathon. At the same time, not all people will participate in the same track event as yourself (if I can continue with the running analogy). Even when you are part of the same track event as someone else, looking around will distract you from finishing your race strong, even possibly tripping you.
To be honest, jealousy and envy did lead to some frustration and feelings of discontentment, even in my own life, when the Covid-19 pandemic (and at the time of this writing, still the reality of the day), and churches like ours, could not gather physically, due to the risks associated in gathering in big crowds which could well be the originating point of a “super-spreader” event, where small amounts of people already infected with the virus, within the gathering, could spread it to uninfected people in the same gathering, which in turn can infect people who are not at the gathering when returning to home, schools or places of work.
Under normal circumstances, I would have a hands-on volunteer position such as Front of House Sound Engineer or Lighting Engineer, however with church online I am more of a spectator. The envy and jealousy just became more apparent when I realized that when I saw some other volunteers of other locations being still involved in one form or another with church online. I fell into a place of beating myself up and feeling sorry for myself – taking on a victim mentality, which just mentally drained me more.
However, at a certain point in 2020, a certain leader within Hillsong Africa Creative team, challenged us as creatives, “Do you serve with the right motive and attitude in the gift given to you?”
Based on that, I quickly realized that I had missed the point completely when it comes to me serving and I had to take on a repentant mindset and to get out of the toxic thought cycle. Jesus said the following to His disciples just he was to be betrayed and crucified, and eventually die that “You did not choose me. I chose you” (John 15:16) .
The seed that I sow and the fruit that it bears is not for me but for others, and that because God chose me and gifted me with specific gifts and talents, which has its specific purpose, to enrich people’s lives, and that the fruit that I produce is not the same fruit as the next person who may be part of the same track as mine.
It was at that time where I asked myself, “Is there some other outlet or avenue in which in which I can be expressive of my God-given creativity, and is there some other God-given gift that was given to me, which I did not realize at that time is something I should pursue?”
It was because of this reflective question, that the origins of the blog, on which this blog entry you are reading now, were born – a small beginning of such.
Another aspect that comes to mind is that small beginnings nurtures a community. In Genesis 2:18, in the continuation of the Creation Story, specifically where God creates a partner for the man He just created.
Even though this passage, as previously mentioned, is part of the greater Creation story, I also draw from it that the idea of community was already there, at the very beginning of time, when God created the Heavens and the Earth. And that it was in this small part of “Beginning” that a culture was woven in the fabric of the tapestry of the very first community of husband and wife.
I have observed this in the Hillsong Stellenbosch location and in the culture of this community of believers, for the idea of “Welcome Home”, the sense of family and belonging to this family can be felt there, with the leaders in the church community who go to great lengths to build community. I would have found it very difficult to navigate the challenging season in 2020 if it was not for this community.
One last “small beginning”, I wish to reflect upon, is truly a new beginning by means of going in a different direction you previously went.
New beginnings often coincide with pioneering – stepping into the great unknown in a way, whether it is a career change, the beginning of or ending of relationships, or making a paradigm shift, when it comes to certain aspects of your life.
With most of 2021 still lying uncharted in front of us, with some glimmers of hope of an effective vaccine against Covid-19 available soon in South Africa, which would to a degree bring some form of familiarity to the world which we were accustomed to, prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, I am accepting the fact that the normal now is not the same as the normal of past times, but I still find comfort in past small beginnings, for those small beginnings of years past, where in some cases it can be seen as pioneering, lays the foundation for the greater things that are still ahead of me.
I therefore wish to conclude, by encouraging you reading this, “not [to] despise the small beginnings” as per the book of Zechariah 4:10, found in the Bible.
I believe wholeheartedly that my story and your story of small beginnings might just awaken a revival of sorts in society for the generations to come, and that where our past sin and shame kept us from moving forward, it allows a new chapter of a new beginning to be written.