Fragments (By Lisa Renée Clark)

Today, friends, I have the privilege of sharing with you some thoughts that are not my own. These thoughts were written by my beautiful friend Lisa Renée Clark, and I hope they will touch your heart and refresh your soul as much as they did mine. I can't wait to see you succeed! ~K. L. W.

Bits. Pieces. Fragments. What comes to your mind when you read those words? Maybe you’re thinking leftovers; something that was broken apart; parts that are scattered. Sometimes when we see things that are in pieces, we will respond in one of these ways: “I don’t know what this mess is, so I’ll just gather it up and put it somewhere out of my sight so someone else can deal with it.” Or, “It’s all in pieces. It’s useless, so I’ll just throw it in the trash.” Think about it. When most people see something in pieces, they don’t see how all those little parts are related. They just look at one small bit or a few parts that seem meaningless and think, “This is useless. This is worthless.” What do we do with useless and worthless things? We throw them away. 

But wait. What did Jesus say about the bits, pieces, and fragments? “‘Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.’ Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten” (John 6:12-13, New King James Version). Obviously those fragments were not useless and worthless; they were quite valuable. The disciples filled 12 huge baskets with the fragments! Who got to take all that food home? The little boy who gave Jesus his few small pieces of bread and fish. His harvest was in the fragments! 

So what does this have to do with our 21st century lives? 

There are rich opportunities knocking on your door because you are here on this earth to accomplish something that is far beyond your current level of ability and far greater than the current amount of your resources. Yeah, you don’t have enough right now. Yet simply because you don’t have all the knowledge and materials necessary, does it mean that you should let these opportunities pass you by? No, of course not! You may not have everything you need to start the business, publish the book, get the contract, pay off all the debts, take the dream vacation, buy the house, lease the building, purchase the new equipment, enroll in the course, run the 5k … but you do have something. There is something that you can do now. You can do research online, ask questions on a forum, and practice with what you have. 

The little boy started with a few pieces of bread and two fish because that is what he had in his hand. What do you have in your hand? It really is enough to get you started. Jesus wanted thousands of people to eat until they were full, and those small bits of food looked worthless compared to the great need. However, the only thing the little boy needed to do was to bring the little bit that he had to Jesus. That was a seed, and that was enough to get the miracle in motion. You know what? The harvest from that little seed didn’t come back all at once. Jesus said, “Gather the fragments.” It took a while for the disciples to do that. They gathered a few pieces here; they found another piece over there. Individually those scattered pieces looked like something to throw away. However when it all came together, it was more food than the little boy and his family ever had! 

So what about your achievements? What about your harvest? It may come in one great big chunk (I’ve had those many times), but always keep your eyes open for the fragments. For example, my husband and I have a financial goal to save a certain amount this year, so we broke it down into smaller weekly goals. I am excited to report that up to now we have saved almost twice the amount of our 3-month checkpoint goal. How did we do it? Bits and pieces and fragments. We set the amount to put aside weekly, then added a little more here and there. At this pace we will far exceed our goal for this year! 

What are your goals for this year? What is on your heart that you long to accomplish? You have something in your hand right now — some small step you can take consistently that will lead to great achievements. Bits, pieces, and fragments add up to huge harvests.

* For more from Lisa Renée Clark, please visit her website, Transform Your Life | ReneeLife.com or find her on Facebook, Renée Life or on Instagram, @reneelife_insight.