Alice M. Ray
What’s that in your hand?”
When the voice from the burning bush spoke these words to Moses, he responded, “A staff.” Just a staff, a shepherd’s rod, a walking stick. Nothing beautiful, amazing, or expensive; just a long, skinny piece of wood. But think how God used that staff.
First, He turned it into a snake, then back to a staff, to try to get Pharaoh’s attention. Then He used it, in Moses’ hand, to part the Red Sea, making dry ground for the Israelites to cross over to freedom. Just a staff, nothing significant, but used by God to do amazing things.
What’s in your hand? When I think of being used by God, I think of big things—being a TV evangelist, a minister, a teacher, a missionary, a literature evangelist, a conference officer, a big-name Christian musician. But I’m coming to realize that God uses the “little” people and their “little” gifts to bless others, just as He uses the “big” people and their “big” gifts.

I think of people such as my friend Carley, who sends out lovely greeting cards, some purchased, some beautifully handmade, with handwritten notes of encouragement in each one. To receive a “Carley card” (as I call them) is to have an extra ray of sunshine splashed onto your day. A simple notecard, a few words written on it, is a small thing; but how many people are blessed in a big way!
Thelma was in her 70s when I first met her. She was a primary division leader in a small church in a small town. Two of our girls were in her classroom. She went out of her way to make Sabbath school fun as well as spiritually educational for the kids. She often had the class over to her home for an afternoon of fun, food, and games. Just a simple woman, serving a small church, with no more than seven or eight kids in her classroom; but she was a wonderful blessing to those kids and to the rest of us who still remember her with fondness.
In the same church were Tee and Helen, whose gift for friendliness and hospitality went a long way in making a young family feel at home after a long move. I can still see Tee coming down the front steps to meet us as we crossed the street to enter that church for the first time, and still hear his words of welcome. After that we spent many happy Saturday nights, either at their house or ours, playing Rummicube over dishpans full of popcorn. Hospitality and friendship—what important “little” gifts!
Then there’s Pat, whose talent for artificial flower arrangements have brightened and beautified another small church in another small town. Maybe not a “big” gift, but even a simple sanctuary has been made more inviting and more worshipful with a few beautiful and constantly changing arrangements. I am blessed every time I see her “works of art.”
My friend Lynell took a drab little classroom and transformed it with a little paint, a lot of elbow grease, and some cute decorations, including a very large stuffed lion, into a cradle roll wonderland. I often looked into the room just to enjoy what she’d done there.
There are many others whose “little” gifts I have either observed or benefited from over the years. I’m sure you also know people who just quietly do what they do to the glory of God without thought of praise or reward.
So what’s in your hand? A rolling pin? A silk flower? A notecard? A storybook? Ask God to bless your “little” gift and show you how to use it to bless others. He will!
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Alice M. Ray writes from Central Point, Oregon. This article was published June 9, 2011.