How Firm a Foundation

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“In every condition, in sickness, in health;


In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;


At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,


As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.”

~ from How Firm a Foundation by John Rippon

Even wonder how a giant gets big or how a celebrity got so famous?  It often seems like overnight there they were, unable to be overlooked for that thing they did. But the majority will tell you that they had to start somewhere. Silas House, author of The Hurt Place and other books, once said to a group of budding writers that it took him 8 years to become an overnight sensation. Before that, there were many drafts and manuscripts and rejections.  His entire journey started from a simple place: by writing the first word.

The strength comes in that starting place.  A butterfly’s egg is the foundation and everything that happens to it helps to shape its experiences. On the outside is a shell hard enough to withstand any climate.  If the butterfly lays the egg in the wintertime, they will not hatch until the spring comes.  The shell also has a coat of glue that allows it to stick to the leaf and not be removed once it is planted, firmly. 

When we are walking in our calling, that overnight celebrity status seems like a farfetched idea at first.  Whether we make an impression on our job, in children’s lives or in our churches, we often start with the tiniest idea.  We protect it, not worrying about the competition and what naysayers say.  If the idea comes during a season where it can not be cultivated to grow -- maybe we aren’t able to write that full novel at the moment -- we will put it away for a spring day. But more than anything else, we stick to that call, because deep within it is the life source that will move us to our maximum potential. 

This idea will get tested, pushed, molded, shifted out of the way and criticized. But, the foundation is there for a reason - everything we learned there will carry us through.  “That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built” (Luke 6:48).  If we remember the strength of the egg, the humbleness of the beginning, handling a little recognition will not alter the core, for the glue will stick us to it course. 

Consider identifying the whisper of your call and jot it down. Protect those little eggs of life budding within you, making sure the you can build a strong foundation to handle whatever brings to you.