Costco opens
There was much excitement recently in Auckland when American multinational membership-only big-box retailer Costco opened its first New Zealand retail store. It had been long delayed due to COVID construction holdups, and much excitement had been built for several years.
To say that it was a busy opening would be an understatement; traffic management had to be used in a large vicinity and queues stretched around the block for weeks on end. Pictures started to emerge of people buying large bulk items to fill there already larger-then-normal trolleys. Everything at Costco is big. Everything.
Is big the only way
The vastness of Costco reflects the continuous trend for everything to get bigger over time. Bigger shopping centres, bigger sports grounds, bigger vehicles, bigger churches, and bigger buildings. Who the biggest is often viewed as being the most successful.
It’s not just with things either, the flow of leadership and management literature encourages people to think bigger, have a bigger vision, dream bigger – it’s as if bigger is the key to success.
But is it?
Small is also big
I’m not so sure that big is always the key to success. Sure, there are some people who carry big dreams and big visions, we need to have those people, but that should also be balanced against those who think small, preferring to focus on smaller things that make just as much impact.
Personalities are big and small
Recently I was looking at the lives of Jesus’ disciples. I learn a lot from looking at character studies, and my favourite genre of literature is biographies where I learn more intimate details of what makes someone the way they are.
I was particularly drawn to two of Jesus’ inner-circle of friends, Peter and Andrew, two brothers who were so different you’d wonder if they were brothers at all.
Peter was clearly the classic big personality, living in ways that shows he dreamt big, wanted to make big differences quickly, generally a typical visionary leader who learnt on the road that mistakes were his best teacher, of which he made many. Peter was an act-first learn-later kind of guy.
Peter would love Costco.
Andrew was at the other end of the spectrum. He seemed to be more reserved, more a think-before-you-act and focus on the small things kind of guy.
I’m not sure Andrew would love Costco.
Neither of these personalities are better than the other, they’re just different from the other; as the saying goes, the beauty of the world lies in the diversity of its people. We are better together, and we are all the better together because we’re so different from each other.
The Bible
In the Bible, there is a lot written about Peter, and Peter does a lot of writing with some of his letters making it to the canon of Scripture.
On the other hand, there is less said about Andrew, and none of his letters made the canon of Scripture, that’s if he wrote any at all.
Andrew
There are only 12 references to Andrew in the entire Bible, and if we were to break those twelve references down, we only end up with four that are significant enough to be able to draw some application from. But the four references pack a punch. Each one of them are significant enough that when combined that paint a picture of a hugely influential young man whose lessons have shaped generations of people for centuries, increasingly so perhaps.
Andrew’s Legacy
Four significant passages have morphed into a generation-shaping legacy that continues to impact the world today. While reports differ about where Andrew exactly went after Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension, we do know that Andrew, like the other apostles, went out into the world with the words of The Great Commission ringing in his ears, to spread the gospel, to tell people about Jesus and to hopefully baptise them – you know, Great Commission stuff.
We also know that Andrew was ultimately martyred for what he continued to say about Jesus. Approx. 1,300 years later, Pope John XXII made him a saint, and to this day Saint Andrew is the patron saint of fishermen and singers, as well as the patron saint of Scotland and Russia.
The interesting thing about Andrew is that he never preached to multitudes or founded any churches. He isn’t mentioned in the book of Acts or any of the letters to churches in the New Testament; he’s more of a silhouette than a portrait on the pages of Scripture.
But he made a big difference in a quiet way. Think about everything you know that is called Saint Andrew’s throughout the world – churches, primary schools, secondary schools, universities, retirement villages, hospitals, a small town in South Canterbury (NZ) with its own St Andrew’s recreational reserve, and I know that some of you are calling out, ‘Don’t forget St Andrew’s Golf Course in Scotland – the home of golf!’
Your legacy
Here’s the point … don’t fall into the trap of believing that bigger is better, that you need to have the biggest and be the biggest. There are small shops around that do just as well as Costco.
Don’t fall into the trap of comparing yourself to someone who might have a louder voice, or who are up the front more than you.
As Andrew demonstrated in his life, small can be big.
Let me finish with words from one of the more significant social anthropologists around, someone who has shaped more lives than perhaps some of the louder voices in the media. Author, Dr Seuss once said: Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is you-er than you.