This is the 3rd and final email in this # Insignificant series. If you missed the previous posts, click here for the first and here for the second.
I struggled with the title for this post because I tried not to hurt your feelings by saying you are small and insignificant. I wasn’t sure how you would take it, especially because in my previous posts, my main aim was to let you know that you matter, you have a future, God loves you and you can make (you are making) a difference in the world. The other truth though is that you are small and insignificant on many levels.
Please take a quick journey with me.
In your nuclear family, what is your birth position? Mine is 3rd. Let’s zoom out. How about in your extended family?
Let’s take the part of your life that makes you feel the most significant. How big are you truly? Does anyone know you in your street, in your state, in your country, on your continent, in the world, in the galaxy? From space, you are less than a speck. Almost invisible.
The songwriter puts it this way (quoting the bible): “Who am I that you are mindful of me”. (Psalm 8:4)
1 Peter 1:24 – “As the Scriptures say, “People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades.
When you realize by yourself that you are small and insignificant, it immediately helps you understand, that who you think you are, what you do and what you have cannot be your identity, because it is still about the ‘small you’.
Good news, Jesus gave His life for the ‘small you’, and the ‘small you’ is the person God needs to make a difference in this world.
See it this way: Learn to cast all your cares on Him, because He cares for you!
I am small, but my God is big, and greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.
I am small, but He is mighty
I am clueless, but He is the wisdom and power of God
I am weak, but He is strong
I am fearful, but He is Faithful
I am small, but He lives in me.
Today, I’d like to share two videos with you, but first, let me introduce Tolu Odulesi.
Tolu is one of my closest friends. I have known him for over 20 years. He is also one of the most intelligent people that I know and he is committed to excellence in all he does. His professional background is amazing:
- He is a two-time class valedictorian with a 4.0 GPA in undergrad and grad schools in the US.
- He worked at Motorolla
- He worked at Apple as Program Manager for over 4 years
- He currently works at Google as Senior Program Manager.
But the most important to him is that he is a Beloved Child of God.
I am so tempted to put a link to his LinkedIn page here (Google him), but he wouldn’t like it, because he would prefer you to check out the message he shared on stage at a Silicon Valley event recently. It contained part of his testimony, when he went through a tough 5 months spell that made him question his identity and helped him understand his reliance on his perceived strengths and re-evaluate how he sees himself.
I encourage you to take a few minutes to watch these, so I am sharing a short highlight version (about 2 minutes) and the full talk with Q and A.
Video 1 – 2-minute highlight
Video 2 – Full version (30 minutes) with Q & A (20 minutes) with top executives in Silicon Valley.
Thanks and leave a comment to let me know if you’ve gained a thing or two in this series.
