Deuteronomy 7

Little By Little

And the Lord thy God will cast out those nations before thee by little and little. Deuteronomy 7:22.

I am going to ask you a question and I'll give you three guesses as to the answer. Here is the question. Are you all listening carefully? What is the most difficult lesson for a boy or girl to learn? Somebody says “grammar.” Yes, that is a difficult lesson, but it is not the right answer. Somebody else says “math” No, there is something harder still. One of the big boys guesses, “Greek.” That is very tough, but there is something stiffer. Do you give it up? Well, the hardest lesson for a boy or girl to learn is just patience.

I don't mean the kind of patience that you play with packs of cards. I know some boys who can beat their mother completely at that. No, I just mean the ordinary everyday kind of patience the kind of patience you have to use when someone is an hour late; the kind of patience you have to use when you are given a long, long, long task and you don't see the end of it, or even the middle of it; the kind of patience you have to use when somebody particularly slow is doing something for you that you want done very quickly; the kind of patience you have to use when you sow seeds in your garden and you want to see the flowers bloom immediately; the kind of patience you have to use when you are asked to a particularly happy party and there's a whole week to wait before it comes off.

Do you know why boys and girls find this lesson of patience so very difficult to learn? It is just because they are so full of energy and eagerness. Now we don't want to rob you of any of your energy or eagerness. They keep the world young and beautiful and sweet. But we want you to add a little just a little patience. Why? Because often and often we spoil things by being impatient.

Now I think the children of Israel must have felt rather like you when God told them that He would drive out the inhabitants of Canaan, not in one year, but “by little and little.” They had been at the trouble to come all that distance and they weren't to get the Promised Land to themselves after all! Nevertheless it was better for them that they should wait. As yet they were too small a nation to take care of the whole country. If they got it all to themselves at once, some of the land would run to waste, and the wild beasts would multiply to such an extent as to become a great danger to everybody.

So you see the best way is often the slow way, the best way is often “by little and little.”

I want to give you three thoughts to take with you.

1. Beautiful things are formed little by little. I could tell you story upon story to prove this, but I want to give you just two.

In the city of Florence stands the famous church of San Giovanni, where for hundreds of years the children of Florence have been baptized. Now at the entrance to this church are two pairs of gates the most beautiful gates in the world. They are modeled in bronze, and they are so lovely that Michael Angelo, the great sculptor, said they were fit to be the gates of heaven.

These gates were made by a man called Ghiberti; and how long do you think he took to complete them? Forty-seven years! Forty-seven years almost a lifetime! And yet, do you not think it was worth spending a lifetime to make the most beautiful gates in the world?

The other story is about a little apprentice boy. He, too, lived in Italy, and he served a great artist who was a worker in mosaics. You know what mosaics are, don't you? They are the pictures that are made out of tiny bits of stone and glass.

Well, this boy ran errands for the artist and kept the place tidy. He noticed that his master often threw away little bits of stone and glass that he thought useless, and one day he plucked up courage and asked the artist if he might keep these scraps for himself. The artist replied, “Certainly, certainly; they are of no use to me.”

So from that day the boy began picking up the fragments his master had rejected. Some he threw away again, others he kept, and from these morsels he began to make a picture.

It took him a long time, for he had only his spare moments and many of the scraps were useless.

Years passed and the boy still remained with the artist. Then one day his master made a discovery. He went into a room that was seldom entered, and there, behind some trash, he found the most wonderful bit of mosaic work. He called the youth and asked him how it came to be there. “For,” said he, “it is the work of a master hand.” And the boy confessed that he himself had made the picture, little by little, out of the tiny pieces of stone and glass the artist had thrown away.

So you see if you want to make something really beautiful you must take time and pains. You can't make a beautiful thing just anyhow. Even God takes weeks and months to make the flowers out of the seeds.

2. And the second thing I want you to remember is that useful things are accomplished little by little. Have you ever watched the little birds making their nests? They carry one straw at a time, and you wonder how they can have the patience to work so slowly. But in their minds is a picture of the comfortable home they are going to have, and of the dear little downy birds that will grow up there; and they know that if they just keep on carrying straws they will get to the end some time.

Some years ago, after a heavy snowstorm, a little boy began to make a pathway through a deep snowbank which lay in front of his grandmother's cottage. And what do you think he used to shovel the snow? One of these small iron spades that you take to the seaside.

A gentleman who was passing stopped to look at him, and asked, “How are you going to get through with that little spade?” “Just by keeping on shoveling,” was the answer.

So, boys and girls, if you get a long weary task to do, remember that there is an end to it, and that that end can be reached just by “keeping on shoveling.”

3. Once more, remember that the most lasting things are made perfect little by little. A fir-tree and a poplar grow up quickly, but they are short lived. An oak takes a very long time to grow, but it lives for anything from 800 to 1500 years. You can build a house in a few months. It takes generations to build a stone cathedral. But the cathedral will be there hundreds of years after the house has tumbled to ruins.

Over the river Taff in Wales is a bridge which has stood for over a century and a half. Because of its beautiful shape it has been called the Rainbow Arch. Have you ever heard the story of how that bridge was built?

In the year 1746 a young engineer William Edwards erected a bridge over the Taff. It consisted of several arches and it looked very fine when it was completed. But, alas! the rain descended and the floods came; and the swollen river, carrying all sorts of debris, dashed against the bridge and utterly destroyed it.

Now Edwards had promised to keep the bridge in order for seven years, so there was nothing for it but to set to work and erect another one. This time he built one arch which stretched from side to side of the river. It was hardly completed when it cracked in the middle and collapsed.

Once more the brave engineer tried. He built one long high arch and he left three holes in it which, he said, would help the bridge to resist wind and water. And there the arch still stands a monument to a brave man's perseverance and courage. It has withstood the storms of over a hundred and fifty years.

Boys and girls, do you know what is the most lasting thing we possess? It is our soul. That is going to last for ever and ever, and it is only little by little that it can be perfected. And we are made perfect largely by our failures, if we keep on trying.

When you are worsted in the battle with temptation, when you are downhearted or discouraged, resolve that you will do better the next time. You have learned by experience and you are not so likely to make the same mistake again. Don't lose heart. Remember the brave engineer of the Taff. Remember that God is able to make something really splendid of you if you keep on trying.

Looking upward every day,

Sunshine on our faces;

Pressing onward every day

Toward the heavenly places.

Growing every day in awe,

For Thy Name is holy;

Learning every day to love,

With a love more lowly.

Walking every day more close

To our Elder Brother;

Growing every day more true

Unto one another.

Every day more gratefully

Kindnesses receiving,

Every day more readily

Injuries forgiving.

Leaving every day behind

Something which might hinder;

Running swifter every day,

Growing purer, kinder.

Lord, so pray we every day,

Hear us in Thy pity,

That we enter in at last

To the Holy City.

(Mary Butler.)