A couple of friends served in Vietnam.
I remember when they came home. Among the things they talked about was “It don’t mean nothin’.”
Apparently that phrase was a coping mechanism, a way of dealing with the horrors they confronted on a daily basis. It was a way of getting through each day when human life was reduced to numbers and there was confusion about mission and value of service.
In the dark days following my injury I adopted my buddies’ attitude. I didn’t try because it didn’t matter. When my counselor asked how I thought through the consequences of my choices, I replied, “It don’t mean nothin’.”
It’s a lie, of course.
Every choice, every day, has eternal consequences. We don’t see them, mostly, because they’re small in the grand scheme of things. But over the arc of a year and a decade and a life the choices and their consequences accumulate.
And they mean something, because you and I matter—to God.
If you want to do something great, you probably can’t. But you CAN do a bunch of small stuff, day after day. And if you point all those small daily choices toward a big goal, you might be amazed at where you end up.
That’s what overnight success usually looks like—a lot of ordinary days of hard work and mostly good decisions that add up to something big.
So if you’re slogging through the jungle, resist the enemy’s attempt to convince you that your efforts and choices don’t mean nothin’. We do the work, God always provides the meaning.
One person, one choice, one step at a time.
That’s the only way the world ever changes.
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