Dream Big, Do small.

We’re all busy. Busy with work, with family, friends, and just… life in general.

Let’s face it. We’re busy people and to a certain extent, we have chosen to be busy.

And in being busy, we focus on the BIG things, because, well, there just isn’t enough time to focus on both the BIG and little things as well.

 

As more and more people request for interviews for their magazines, papers, online productions or school projects, sometimes, it really seems easier to just say Yes to the “BIG” requests, and turn the small requests down. A few days ago, I received a request from a group of polytechnic film students to be interviewed for their final project. Entitled “Heavy”, it was to raise awareness of eating disorders and encourage people to seek help if needed. Because of extremely tight constraints, and delays in finding my contact, they needed to film this very weekend.

 

After a lot of consideration, I said no. The time frame was too tight, there was no way we could pull it off, and besides it would have to get clearance from my department’s Corporate Communications, and there simply wasn’t enough time. But they were earnest, sincere and authentic about their cause, hoping to film anyway later in the year when we had more time, as a side project,  without the constraints of school and deadlines. So I met them in a little window of time after work, and said Yes.

 

No way were we going to push through this red tape in less than twelve hours. A lady I had called replied in a condescending tone, “ Students? We get requests from students all the time. You shouldn’t need to reply them so urgently. They’ll just take advantage of your fast turnaround time.” But we did. The man on the line from the Corporate Communications department understood that this film interview was a personal project, not involving my work in any way. He was so moved in some way by the students’ sincerity and my request that he went out of his way to clear this barrier for us, after working hours, just so we could film the next day. It was just unbelieveable.

 

Do not despise the things of small beginnings. As I write this, the students are setting up at our living room- lights, sound, mike…

 

Two days ago I had a dream. In my dream, an elderly lady who recognized me from our wedding video approached me at my workplace. (Of late, we have had a number of uncanny incidents of strangers and long-lost friends recognizing us from the street from our video and starting amazing conversations that we would otherwise never have had). She asked for a few copies of “I love you”, only to have me say, “I’m sorry, we are holding them for now.” This year, a few people and some strangers have made random requests for one, two or three copies of the book. Because we have not yet found a public place to put them, (bookstores have requested commission even when the books are for non-profit fundraising purposes), I have thought it challenging to meet with people one-on-one to pass the books to them, hence saying, “We are holding them for now.”

 

In my dream, the old lady, disappointed, walked away. As soon as she turned, I dropped the items in my hands, only to have her scurry to help me pick them up. As soon as our eyes met again, she said quietly, lovingly, with neither condemnation nor condescension, “I wanted to offer you two thousand dollars as a donation for your books.” Her eyes said: You turned my little request away.

 

It was then that I felt God speak to me: Do not despise the things of small beginnings.

 

I felt  Him telling me, that as long as it was within my capacity, I should try within limits, to entertain “small” requests.  Just yesterday, I received the final edits of an online magazine after an email interview. Seeing the article in context, alongside the write-ups of other women who were doing things to help the poor and needy, helped me see how just a little of our time, and a little bit of our effort  may make a BIG difference in God’s eyes.

 

The filming went well today. The students asked good questions, they were sensitive, earnest, and professional, far more so than some of the reporters I have come in contact with, perhaps because this truly stemmed from a passion of their hearts, and was not just another assignment they had to complete. It was then that I realized, that making those phone-calls on their behalf to help them with a cause BIGGER than all of ourselves put together, was really a comparatively small effort.

 

 

I cook at the end or the beginning of each week to make sure Cliff has at least some home-cooked meals in his life. A few days ago I felt inspired and midway chopping vegetables for a simple dish of fried brown rice and rainbow vegetables, I asked Cliff if we could invite Grandpa Zhou to our home that very moment for an early Lunar New Year celebratory meal that very night. He was game (such a wonderful man with a heart that stretches from the shore to the horizon of the earth), and we had the loveliest spontaneous memory of inviting the poor into our own home because we just wanted to, just felt like it.

 

At that moment I realized, it was a little thing, but for years I had dreamt of a man and a home which we could open our doors to those who needed a meal or some conversation. It was a little act, but it was a BIG privilege for me. It was fulfillment of a little girl’s dream. I realized God had granted me the man and home I had been dreaming of all my life.

 

The BIGGEST achievement in my life was not getting my medical degree, or getting accepted into John Hopkins university in the States or publishing books to raise funds. It was making friends with Grandpa Zhou, forsaking that opportunity last year for an overseas education to marry Cliff, it was dreaming a little dream and understanding what it meant.

 

Do not despise small beginnings. Everybody starts off somewhere. So give someone who wants your time, just a little bit of your attention. Because really, it’s the little things you do in life, the little decisions, the little seeds you plant, that bear the biggest, heaviest fruit you could ever imagine for the rest of your life. Dream big, Do small.

 

 

 

^“Do not despise these small beginnings, for God rejoices to see the work begin…”

 

–        Zechariah 4:10