George Grant on the Little People
I have been reading George Grant's The Micah Mandate, and I enjoyed his reflections on the impact of the "small things" ordinary people do.
"It has always been plain folks, simple people, who have literally changed the course of history . . . Most of the grand-glorious headline-making events through the ages have been little more than backdrops to the real drama of green grocers, village cobblers, next-door neighbours, and grandfathers. Despite all the hype, hoopla, and hysteria of sensational turns-of-events, the ordinary people who tend their gardens and raise their children and perfect their trades and mind their businesses are the ones who make or break a culture. Just as they always have. Just as they always will.
G. K. Chesterton said: “The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children. For indeed, the first shall be last and the last shall be first.”
George Grant goes on to write that “the real decision makers are the anonymous plodders who are secretly the heroes of history by virtue of their consistent attention to the details that actually matter – enjoying their wives, loving their children, helping their neighbours, worshiping in Spirit and in truth, seeking righteousness, and applying their unique gifts to the affairs of everyday life.”
I am onto my second reading of this book. I have been reading it since last month. It has so much in it that is good about living a balanced Christian life of justice, mercy, and humility. Grant argues that this is attainable for all of us, as we commit to obeying God in our everyday lives.
George Grant says that the only reason groups promoting evil have made headway in our society is that "the church has not been all that God has called us to be or done all that God has called us to do."
"It is only when the church creates a vacuum by its own inactivity and impiety that the minions of this world have the opportunity to exploit the innocent, the foolish, and the inattentive."
The cure for this is found "when the elect of God yield to their divine mandate in every aspect and every detail of their lives."
