Isaiah 11:1-5

“Big Things Start Small”

Big things start small. About a year ago I started playing this dice game with my friends Rob, Karen, and Gram, and each time I play it, this phrase comes to mind. The game we play is called “Frakle” (a modified version of the game “Farkle”) and the object is to be the first player to 10,000 points by rolling 6 dice. The dice have different point totals based on the combinations that you roll. For example, 1’s are worth 100 points and 5’s are worth 50 points; three 2’s are worth 200 points, three 3’s are worth 300 points, three 4’s are worth 400 points and so on. A few combinations are worth 1,000 points, which come occasionally, and if you get 6 of a kind, it’s worth 10,000 points, which I have never seen happen. But more often than not you roll 1’s and 5’s and slowly work your way to 10,000 points.

The game of Frakle involves taking chances and making decisions. If you roll six dice and only get two 5’s, you can roll the remaining four dice to try to get more points. If you score again on your second roll, you can either take the points or roll the remaining dice, but if you don’t score, you Frakle, or forfeit, your points. This is where the decisions come in; it’s always tempting to roll for something bigger than what you have, but by looking for more points, you run the risk of getting no points at all. Sometimes, you just need to take small rolls because having some points is better than no points at all. Holding out for something bigger only makes you lose faster.

In the game of Frakle, big things start small; you can’t pass up the small points. But let’s face it, this is just a game. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you take a chance and lose, especially when there is nothing at stake. Life is different. Each day there is something at stake and a lot of times we face choices just like in the game of Frakle. And a lot of times we have the same choices to make: do we pass on the small stuff and hope for something bigger? Or do we learn to take the small things?