Dream Small was released four weeks ago, and I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has gotten the book and interacted with it. For this week’s blog post, I’d like to share with you some links that relate to the book–some from myself, and some from others. First, a couple of articles I’ve written recently for other sites on themes relating to the book:
Here’s an article about how we develop our skills, and (more importantly) what we develop them for: Why Some Things Are Worth Doing Poorly, on Common Good.
“…As G.K. Chesterton put it, “If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.” He didn’t mean that we should stay bad at it forever; only that if something really needs to be done, then it needs to be done whether we can do it well or not. If a goal is worth striving for, then it’s worth falling down for, and getting back up for, and getting back up again for, as many times as it takes. Do the best you can, but by all means, do.
And if your best is poor compared to others, well, that’s really not the point — God didn’t give you time and energy and talents so that you could prove anything to anyone else. The Bible is clear about our efforts: The purpose of using our skills and developing our abilities is not to serve ourselves, but to serve God by serving others and giving to them generously because of all that God, in Christ, has given us…” Read the rest at Common Good
It’s good to be king. Could anything be better? One king said yes, and that’s what this article is about: The King Who Longed For God’s Presence, on Open The Bible.
“…David was a real king, an absolute monarch with a real throne and a palace and a court where his people came before him to hear his decisions and his enemies came to bring their tribute. He was already living at the very top of human society. In modern terms you could say he was on the top rung of the ladder of success. He had power, in the extreme. Wealth, in excess. He had fame, and his influencer status was unrivalled. Even his song-writing skills were legendary. What else could this man achieve? He already had it all. And what does this man, who had everything the world could offer, value above the everything he had? He tells us plainly: he would rather have one day close to God, as a doorkeeper, than a thousand days of earthly prosperity anywhere else without him…” Read the rest at Open The Bible
The Good Book Company has also posted a couple of excerpts from Dream Small on their blog, and you can find those here:
“…He came as Lord, and yet washed dirty feet like the lowest of servants. He took our ladders of success and purposefully flipped them over…” Read more on TGBC blog
“…Your investments in his kingdom now, no matter how unnoticed they are by people, are producing a reward that is better than anything money can buy on Earth…” Read more on TGBC blog
Here are two reviews of the book from others who have read it:
“…To dream small, he explains, is not to miss out on God’s plan for our lives, but to find it, to take hold of it, and to live it out. It’s to live a life of the highest significance to the God whose ways are so very different from our own…” Read more at challies.com
“…This book is for those who think that bigger platforms, more money, and worldly success and achievements will bring you greater happiness and satisfy your soul. It will cause you to re-examine your life. It will shift your priorities. It will challenge the patterns of your life and change the priorities of your heart. This book will remind you of what really matters most. We are small, but loved. Freedom and joy, contentment and satisfaction, are found not in ourselves – but in Jesus…” Read more
Finally, here’s a lecture I gave last weekend about some of the ideas in the book for our local Bible college here in Ireland:
sethlewis.ie 