An army of one
One is not too small a number to make a difference, to make a difference in your own life, the life of someone else, or to change the world. There’s an old adage that says, “There’s strength in numbers.” I beg to differ. There isn’t strength in numbers; there is strength in unity. Look at the words unit and unity. There is only a one letter difference, but what a difference that one letter makes. A leader can have soldiers follow him to battle, but until they understand the “y”, they are just individual units, moving to and fro, here and yonder. The best example of this (that I can think of at the moment) is in the movie 300. The villagers that asked to fight with Leonitis were many in number, but they lacked unity, so when they were mobilized, death came quickly upon them. They thrashed about wildly with no focus, no cohesion. Leonitis and his men understood the “y.” Although there were only 300 Spartans, they were destroying the tens of thousands of Persians whom they were up against. They were indivisible. They moved and they fought as one. Joan of Arc was one person that moved and inspired many. A flock of sheep led by a lion, can defeat a pride of lions led by a sheep. It was one little boy with 2 pieces of fish and 5 pieces of bread, that met one man, who happened to be Jesus, and ended up feeding a multitude.
It is not always easy being an army of one. As an army of one, you will feel overwhelmed at times. You will feel the pressures and the strain of life, and if you feel that you are never overwhelmed, it is because your vision is too small. See, Jesus had 70 disciples, 12 apostles, and only 3 in his inner circle (Peter, James, and John). There were certain places that the other apostles couldn’t go, times where Jesus only called on those three (the transfiguration, prayer in Gethsemane). Everyone has an inner circle that they lean on during the tough times, when they need someone to talk to, or a shoulder to cry on, but sometimes there are places in life where your inner circle cannot go. When Jesus and his inner circle went to Gethsemane, he asked only that they stay awake with him as he went to pray. Three times he went off to pray alone, only to come back to find his inner circle sleeping. At times, our inner circle falls asleep on us. See, it’s easy to sleep at night when it’s not you that’s having the problems, the issues, the strain, and the pressure. There are going to be times in life where we have to go off and pray by ourselves, because no one can pray for us the way we can pray for ourselves. An army of one. Some of the deepest conversations that you will ever have in your life are soliloquies to yourself. The toughest, most important questions you will ever ask will be the questions you ask yourself; who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? What do I need to change? When should I begin?
Let it marinate.
Mike D.
