Big People and Small People

Benjamin F. Plybon

Emeritus Professor of Mathematics, Miami University

            I look up at the sky on a clear evening and see stars; thousands of tiny sparkling points of light above me.  I have done this many times.  With a telescope I can see planets, star clusters, galaxies and nebulae and many other beautiful celestial objects.  I believe in many other features of the universe that I know are there although I can only see in my mind.  The science of astronomy was born because many looked up and saw these fascinating celestial objects.  They wondered and believed.

            An ant sees none of this.  Ants know nothing about astronomy and cannot even imagine such sights and such knowledge.  Why not?  Because they are too small.  Stars and all of these other thousands of astronomical objects we see and know well do not exist for ants.  Ants are too small to see or comprehend such things.  It takes a bigger being to see and believe in the existence of stars and galaxies.

            Some people do not believe in God or heavenly things because they have never seen or experienced such things and deny their existence.  Is it possible that, like the ants, they are too small to see and comprehend such things?  God and things of God do not exist for them.  Yet these things do exist for others. The world known and experienced by Moses, Elijah, Paul, Jeremiah and Isaiah, and millions of Christians since, cannot be seen or understood by many.  Because of a problem with size.  I believe it takes a big person to see and believe in the existence of God and his world.   Paul tells us in the letter to the Romans (see Romans 1:19), God, his power and divine nature can be clearly seen and no one has an excuse to claim “I cannot see”.

            In the case of the ants it is a problem with physical size.  The size of a human being that matters is not physical size.  A person seven feet tall, weighing 300 pounds, can be very small in the way that matters most. I have a brother who is small, physically small, just as my father was.  This brother, Ira, is only about four feet tall.  My father was about five feet tall in physical height.  But these two men were not small in the way it counts.  When Ira was only a small child his lack of height was a problem.  A wise teacher once said a wise thing to him. 

“It is not the elevation of your head above the floor that matters.  It is the height of your thoughts above the ordinary that counts.” 

Ira chose to think lofty thoughts and has always been a big man that way.  I believe the same was true about my father.

            My father, despite his lack of physical height, did see the evidence that God and his world exists.  He never doubted that Jesus came to us on earth from that heavenly world, unseen by so many.  He had seen the evidence, many times and in many places.  The truly big person looks around in all directions, sometimes toward the sky, sometimes toward the horizon.  In all of these places he or she sees things invisible to the person too small to see.  He sees the presence of God in many ways in many places.

            Some successful men boast, “I am a self-made man”.  Actually every one of us is “self made” in a sense.  When you were born you were given a life, you were nurtured by a mother, prepared for life with some education and training.  At a very young age you began shaping your life like the potter shapes clay.  Parents and teachers exert their influences but they do not shape your life.  You are shaped by your response to those external factors, the words spoken and the actions of others.  You made choices of your own.  Behavior experts will tell you, ultimately we tend to do what we want to do.  So don’t blame others for all of your troubles today. Our desires strongly influence our life choices. But we have some control over our desires. How you manage your desires is crucial in shaping your life.  What hunger do you want to satisfy?  What do you want to accomplish before that final breath comes?  What is your heart’s desire? Be careful what you aim at in life.  You may succeed.

The big man today is the result of a life of wise choices. I believe the big people are people who aimed high, they aimed at heaven.  Their desire has been to know God, to experience his presence and even feel his touch at times.  When that happens we call that a religious experience.  It can happen in church on Sunday but it can also happen at the birth of a child, at the funeral of a friend, at a beautiful sunset or in the midst of a tornado.  We have a built in thirst for God, a spiritual thirst.  That is a part of the design of human beings. Some suppress or repress that thirst.  They replace it with other substitute hungers, following their other hunger and becoming small people; no longer able to see the evidence of God.  

             The ant-people in this world are a tragedy.  Some are rich some are poor.  Some are famous celebrities some are unknown.  Fame and wealth do not make a person big, except in their own eyes.  It has been said that a man all wrapped up in himself makes a very small package.  Such self-centered people are not happy, and others around them are frequently unhappy also.  They are not happy because they look for happiness in so many wrong places.  They become smaller and blinder each day.

            The little people avoid religion and do not understand religious people.  They wonder why we can still have peace and joy when everything seems to be falling apart around us.  Jesus taught the world the secret to living that abundant life. The source of the power to live as we were meant to live, a life abundant, is God as revealed to us in the life of Jesus.   Christians celebrate and give thanks for Easter every day. Easter is a great time to remember and celebrate with others who have found the reason to celebrate their life as a gift from God.

            Big people, people who have discovered the reality of God, do look up and see so much that is invisible to ant-people.  We see more than stars and galaxies.  We also see wonders around us, invisible to small people.  We see a creation made by God, feel the wind of the Spirit of God moving lives, a breath on our face, and sometimes we hear his voice in the sounds of birds or a breeze rustling leaves on a tree.  There are burning bushes around us all the time.   Sometimes we see one and we feel like taking off our shoes, marking that spot as holy ground.

            At Easter we are reminded of a time when thousands of people saw the ultimate proof of existence of God and his heaven.  A very unusual man appeared in a land on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea.  He taught about God and witnessed to his power.  The blind were made to see, the lame walked, and lepers were made whole.  To this man Jesus, God was not a philosophical thought or merely an idea to him.  God was his Father in Heaven, a very real being, a person who knew and loved his only begotten son.  This man walked on this earth among people like us.  There were big and small people then as now.  All belonged to him, he created them, but the small people did not recognize him.  The big people like Peter, James and John recognized him.  Their eyes were open and they saw clearly.  They dedicated the rest of their lives to helping others see what they had seen.

            The small people today fail to see so much of this world.  Not stars, trees, birds and galaxies; these physical objects they can see.   But more wonderful things are invisible to them.  The God invisible to them can heal these blind ones and open their eyes.  We must not condemn the small people suffering from this tragic blindness.  Rather pray for healing.  Many are blind following others blind, unaware of their affliction. 

Why live life as a small person?  God wants all of his children to be big people, enjoying life, seeing all the beauty around in his creation; even more than the stars, galaxies, the moon and sunrises. The man, or woman, looking for help with alcoholism or drug addiction must first recognize and admit there is a problem.  Then one asks for help here on earth and also from above. So it is with small people. Small people wanting help with their blindness must first realize and admit existence of blindness.  Help is free for the asking. The afflicted person only turn to God and ask for help.  Asking is simple.  One only needs to pray the short prayer, “Lord, open my eyes. I am small. Help me become big in your eyes.” God has given us a bright light that can be seen by all, even those blind. The blindness caused by smallness can be overcome; healing is possible. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, the light of the world, and God will do the rest.  That is the Gospel truth.

(Copyright 2014 Benjamin F. Plybon.  All rights reserved.)