I have a saying that I use quite often in counseling, especially in those cases where “whatifitis” has completely taken over. You know what whatifitis sounds like, right? “But what if the surgery doesn’t work and the hospital won’t treat him and kicks him out and we get a bill we can’t pay?” “But what if my daughter isn’t paying attention and spins out of control in the car and lands in a ditch upside down and the ditch has an alligator, and her window is down?” Whatifitis has robbed many a person of peace with its cacophony of scenarios. Whatifitis can keep us cautious, but it can also paralyze us.

My mother was a very successful school business administrator in a large school district. She oversaw a multi-million budget. I remember a time when she came home from a school board meeting completely frustrated. She had finally lost her cool with the nay-sayers who were trying to shut down a much needed but expensive project. She told the board that their whatifitis was going to kill the school and she said they could what-if themselves to death, but that wouldn’t move the school forward in the direction it needed to go or fix the immediate problem. The project passed.

So the thing I say to people who are struggling under the weight of “what ifs?” is “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” It is a reminder to us to not take on the enormity of a big problem, but instead to choose one small part of it to tackle and move methodically through it, one bite at a time. By focusing on a small, achievable part, we can avoid being overwhelmed by things.

In our Scripture today, Jesus is addressing the newly recruited disciples and laying out his plan for the harvest work of making disciples that they will undertake. It is a huge mission, and these former fishermen and a tax collector are becoming overwhelmed with the size and scope of their new calling. So Jesus advises them to start small:

Matthew 10 (The Message)

^40-42 “We are intimately linked in this harvest work. Anyone who accepts what you do, accepts me, the One who sent you. Anyone who accepts what I do accepts my Father, who sent me. Accepting a messenger of God is as good as being God’s messenger. Accepting someone’s help is as good as giving someone help. This is a large work I’ve called you into, but don’t be overwhelmed by it. It’s best to start small. Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice. You won’t lose out on a thing.”

What good advice, regardless of the project! In the aftermath of a tragedy, start small. In the new beginning of a venture, start small. If you want to make a change in your lifestyle, start small. Nobody ever ran a marathon on the first day.

If you are trapped in a sticky web of what ifs, try to break the project down into manageable bites. Jesus reminds us that the smallest act of giving or receiving makes you his apprentice. He is intimately linked with us in our work, and we are never alone. Thanks be to God!

Start Small by Michelle Robertson