One

One person. One. In the great scheme of things, what does one matter? What is one of anything worth? Who would want to pick up a solitary penny on the ground? Even my pre-k-ers would scoff at choosing one if there was any way they could have more. Yup, in the world's economy, one is not considered much. Ahhhh! But in God's ...

There was one woman at the well. A Samaritan, at that, an ethnic group considered pagan half breeds and thoroughly despised by Jews. But it was there that Jesus went. It was there He stopped. It was there He talked with the one and drew her to Himself. Amazed and convinced of His deity by His words, she ran to her village and returned with a band of seekers, who believed on Him first through her words. The words of one.

There was one widow of Zarephath to whom the Lord directed Elijah. It was a time of famine and drought, but, God told His prophet, "Go to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food." It was this one specific woman whose heart God had prepared. And as she yielded to His counterintuitive command (What? Give the little she had to the man of God? She and her son would die all the sooner!), He multiplied the little she had to sustain not only His servant, but also her son and herself for the duration of the famine. A miracle through the submissive, obedient heart of one.

There was one young boy who offered to share the little he had, the packed lunch undoubtedly prepared by his foresighted mother, with Jesus. And voilá--a miracle of provision for 5,000 men and untold numbers of women and children. One willing heart gave birth to a story that has evoked faith through the centuries in God's ability to provide. One.

My resident math guy, Dennis, goes by spurts--there are seasons when he revels in looking up scientific facts about the galaxies (the big things) around us, and then there are seasons when he revels in focusing his reading on nanoscience, the study of extremely small things. I am the happy beneficiary of his perusals, learning absolutely amazing things as he shares with me the delightful facts he encounters. For example, did you know that there are trillions of atoms inside one little period at the end of a sentence? See? Even in nanoscience, one is not insignificant. It is intricate. It has form. It has structure. It is awe-inspiring.

And the God who created those atoms, who thought of them, crafted them in their intricacy, is the same God Who made us. If He put so much thought into such teeny-tiny things, arranging their incredible complex systems of protons and what not, don't you think He put as much if not more thought into that part of His creation (us) "made a little lower than the angels, and ... crowned ... with glory and honor" (Psalm 8:4)?

We might be one--but we are one made by Him, thought of by Him, and though we might be one in number, the glorious intricacies of our creation are not random, not happenstance, not without purpose. They are, rather, part of His inscrutable plan for humanity--for us, "for we are His workmanship" (Ephesians 2:10). We might be one--but one in His hands? The sky's the limit!

It's a new year, a time for new beginnings--a fresh opportunity to make our walk with God better. Let's choose to be the one He uses. Listening. Yielded. Obedient. Willing.

Lord, help me to be that One.

"... thou was precious in my sight ... and I have loved thee" (Isaiah 43:4).