Devotion - Monday, October 13

Do you know the name of George Washington Carver?  If not, your history (and perhaps religious) education is lacking.  He was a researcher whose labs at Tuskegee changed the lives and fortunes of so many.  He studied the peanut.  He talked poor farmers to grow peanuts in the small parcels of depleted soil available to them.   His research lead to the production of this protein rich crop which fed the children and families of folks too close to malnutrition.

His autobiography is mentioned today, along side the conclusion of the Book of Job.  As God tells Job, "Where were you when I set the corners of the earth?", Carver writes, "I asked the Great Creator what the universe was made for. 'Ask for something more in keeping with the little mind of yours,' he replied.  'What was man made for/' 'Little man, you still want to know too much.  Cut down the extent of your request and improve the intent.'  Then I told the Creator I wanted to know all about the peanut.  He replied that my mind was too small to know all about the peanut, but He said He would give me a handful of peanuts."

And thus his life-work began.  Thus, he studied and he discovered and he shared information that created a way of improving the lives of others.

Sometimes, in our desire to change the world, or have a lasting impact, or simply to live a life worth living, look to the great and grand schemes.  If only we could look and see the handful of peanuts we have been given.

Start where you are.

Do what it is that your life encourages you to do.

Realize that the grandeur of the cosmos is caught up in the smallest of molecules.  And so is the wild and wonderful life which God has given you.