The Power of One

To be totally honest, I didn’t even expect to see the one that I saw. I was convinced that either the late-Spring cold snap that caused the newly emerging green world to turn a crystal white color overnight as the mercury in the thermometer dropped to twenty-something or my momentary lapse of sound judgment that brought about a root-burning phenomena when I applied an extra-thick layer of mulch to the base of the fruit tree had eliminated any hopes my heart and taste buds had for a satsuma crop this fall. But there it was. Lonely and almost hidden among the handful of still-green leaves that had survived…but it was there. One lonely satsuma. If you look closely at the picture above, you will be able to make it out. Why in all of creation would a human being be so excited over a fruit tree having only one piece of fruit on it? Because there WAS ONE!

Sometimes I think we get far too immersed in the numbers game. The “Keeping-up-with-the-Jones'” rat race. The “Who’s got more stuff” competition. So much so that we lose sight of how important ONE can be. One moment in time that changes the trajectory of a life forever…One kind word spoken that brightens up a day…One person that cares or One person cared for that serves as the catalyst to a life-long friendship from that point forward…You get the idea. Oh my goodness if we could grasp the power of ONE!

Think with me for just a second. Let’s try to consider just a palm-full of the many items/experiences in our normal, everyday existence of which there are only one – but the one that there is proves to be just enough or even more than enough: Without a simple little thing that we take for granted, life on our little circle in the sky would be impossible. Without light, there would/could be no life. And where does our light come from? Yes – THE sun. There’s only one of those in our solar system, but that one is sufficient. We have four seasons over the course of a year. In the 365 days that it takes our Earth to make its trek around the aforementioned sun, we mortals get the opportunity to experience ONE of each of those seasons. (My Louisiana brethren may disagree and claim that we have only two seasons – summer and summer, but we do indeed have four even if they aren’t as pronounced as in other regions of our great country!) Only one of each season per year, but that is enough growth, fruit bearing, changing of color, and dormancy for the plant world to do it all over again. We could keep going on, but the power of one is evident all around us!

Scripturally speaking, the power of one is equally evident. We find that there is ONE God (Deuteronomy 6:4)…and He is enough. We find that this ONE God gave us His ONE and only Son (John 3:16)…and this ONE son is the Savior for the entire world. We find that this One God which has given us His ONE and only Son has appointed us ONE life to live (Hebrews 9:27)…and yet this ONE life is sufficient to accomplish all that He has designed us to accomplish. And that leads me to a final thought and a final question…What has this ONE God designed YOU to accomplish? And secondly, if we know the purpose for which God created us, are we actively embracing that purpose and living it out ON-PURPOSE? I am convinced that the purpose intended for each of us by our Creator – the One that knit us together while we were still in the womb (Psalm 139:13) – can only be found in a relationship with the ONE and only Son that He gave – Jesus Christ. Yes, each of us – all of which are ONLY ONE – are loved by the ONE God that created us through His ONE Son which He gave us. Know Him…Love Him…Serve Him…

At least a portion of the purpose for which the Great God of Creation has allowed the one and only me to suck up air and take up space for over forty years now is to use what He has created as a means to point others towards Him. I pray that this simple reminder of the Power of One does just that – direct your thoughts to the ONE God that loves you dearly. And so, whether in a field with an abundance of growth, or under a tree with only one piece of fruit, somewhere out there, I’ll see you in the Great Outdoors!