I love the idea of BIG radical change. I love the idea of sweeping grand gestures that change relationships, people, or best, the world for the better. But I also like the idea of living in a Jane Austen novel, even though I am pretty sure I would hate the lack of plumbing, rules for women, and well, all the layers of clothing. I guess my point is that I think big gestures are romantic, and romanticized. They are the headline, the stardust of dreams, but I am not sure that the reality of them is what my life is supposed to be about. So I am here to posit a different way of living. The beauty and power of small.

I think the importance of small is completely underrated in our modern culture and society of bigger, more and dare I say, supersized. It is so easy to think big, dream big, want to do big. And sometimes big is definitely called for. But a lot of the time small will certainly do, and often does better.

I read a fascinating article the other day around the turn of the new year when everyone starts wiping the slate clean and setting big lofty goals for their lives. However, this article was a bit different and focused on the art of going decidedly small with a desired new behavior. Apparently, there is a professor at Stanford, Dr. BJ Fogg, Director of the Behavior Design Lab, that argues that the smallest, tiniest, habits are the ones that have the ability to radically change people’s lives. The big goals are easy to fail at and tend to sink people into demotivation because difficulty and motivation are related–the more difficult a thing is, the higher the motivation has to be to achieve. And then motivation has to stay high. However, when people set small, even tiny goals, they often exceed them because motivation is at a maintainable and achievable height. Further, consistently achieving goals has a lovely snowball effect in humans.

Let me be clear about how small these goals are. In the article, Dr. Fogg spoke about how he decided that he had to floss one tooth each day. He didn’t need to floss them all. Did he often? Yes. But the point was, the bar was reachable, and so even on the busiest days, he could get one tooth done and know he achieved his goal. The smaller goal required much less motivation and will power to stick to it. And here is the twist I didn’t see coming, you don’t move the bar later to flossing more teeth. The goal stays small and instead your perception of yourself changes as you realize that you are a person who does what you say you are going to do, and often also goes above and beyond that. That is powerful heady stuff for your psyche.

It is so wonderfully human to want to do big things, but I think in wanting to do big, we overlook the power of small. If wanting to go big causes us to feel like failures, not to achieve, or just not to start, I think we have missed the point and power of small. A gentle reminder here, Jesus started his movement with 12 people who were not big celebrities or influencers but boasted fishermen and a tax collector among them.

I am here for this in goals and habits as well as other aspects of life. This position is not from a defeated, cutting out all the excess, overwhelmed or frightened to fail place. Instead, it is a purposeful and intentional smallness. It is a choice. Friends, I was given a mission. Bake a loaf of bread a week. God didn’t ask me to bake a loaf of bread daily–actually, daily bread is His thing. He didn’t ask me to give away homes. He asked me to bake a loaf of bread a week and unexpectedly give it to someone to show love. Small. Doable. And dare I say powerful?

I will tell you that I don’t know what happens after I drop my bread off. I do hope butter gets involved, but seriously, that is beyond my role. My job is offering a smile and an unexpected loaf of bread. It is meant to be a single moment in the day that surprises and delights. The ripple effects (if there are any) of that moment are beyond my role and there is an utter peace in how achievable this is for myself while leaving the door open to something more. If someone closes the door, shakes their head and says, that was the weirdest encounter ever, that is okay. I have done my part and left room for the rest to come from God. He is the one that can take 12 very human humans and change the world–and we already know what He can do with a few loaves of bread.

Small is powerful because it is achievable, replicable, and appealing, and I, for one, am ready for a revolution where small is no longer dismissed for not being more. I am ready to celebrate small for knowing what it is and accepting its limitations and even appreciating them. I am ready for seeing the beauty in something that could absolutely try to be bigger but is happier, more inspiring, or just better small. Go small or go home…I am sure the bumper stickers will take right off. But truly (and perhaps unsurprisingly), I am okay if this revolution stays small. A small, small revolution, party of 1.