"For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel. . . ." (Zechariah 4:10.)

The kingdom of heaven was compared by the Lord to a grain of mustard seed, the smallest among seeds; which yet, "when it is grown, is the greatest among herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof." All things in the vast universe grow from seeds. 

 The same is true of the body of [the human being], which is the soul's kingdom. A person’s marvelous powers of life descend from microscopic [cells] within the brains, whose efficacy is such that they can catch the influx of vital forces from…the spiritual world. From these principles-or beginnings- the human body was formed, and from these it continues to unfold by growth.

The power of growth, then, depends not upon size or quantity, but upon quality,-upon subtlety and fitness of organization. The capacity of growth comes from the fineness and adequacy of a substance to receive a superior life; from the fact that its interiors are so ordered, so delicately attuned, that they respond to the influx of heaven, whence all strength of survival, growth and eternity comes.

 Our text, from the inspired lips of Zechariah the prophet, speaks of "the day of small things," of humble and disheartening beginnings. For seventy years, Jerusalem had lain in ashes; it had been condemned by the powers of the world as a stronghold of rebellion and an obstacle to their progress. Its people, disobedient even to their God, had been removed-all but the poorest-as captives to Babylon.

But Babylon's pride was now broken by the Medes and the Persians, and the Persian king, Cyrus, had given leave to the Jews to return to their homeland, had handed back the sacred vessels and subsidized the rebuilding of the temple. Zerubbabel, a lineal descendant of the kings of Judah, was appointed governor over the few thousands of Jews who came back to settle in Jerusalem. 

A start was made on the building of the temple, but this was interrupted through the jealousy of the Samaritans and the discouraged state of the people, who preferred to build ceiled houses for themselves before devoting their energies to the house of the Lord. Fourteen years or more passed. The misery of the little remnant was increased by droughts and famines, and their earnings seemed to dwindle away as if cast "into a bag with holes." The blessing of the Lord was withheld. They felt that they had made a wrong beginning. They, who had seen the grandeur of Babylon and the power of Persia, lost faith, and began to despise their own "day of small things."

Do we not recognize here the parable of each new beginning in the life of the [spiritually growing] person? A new beginning [being] attended by discouragement and despair. Let us recall the state of fear and anxiety which the disciples of the Lord displayed after the Lord's crucifixion. [And yet, just] as Zerubbabel had led his people back to their land, so the Lord, after His resurrection, elevated the spiritual into their inheritance.

Our concern, in this our "day of small things," is not for numbers, not for acclamation by the world, not for the easing of our burdens, but for the increase of spiritual truths. We may not always expect startling reactions to every new truth, in ourselves or in others. We must, of course, realize that in the economy of spirit, as well as in lavish nature, only one seed out of a hundred may meet the soil and the responsive state that can make it grow into a fertile future. 

Yet we also know that nothing is lost. No word of God, no truth, returns void to its Maker. Though our blind eyes may not behold it, all contributes to a life more abundant. What must govern us, in our private lives, as well as in our [community], is the desire that the seeds of spiritual growth be generously present within us, and within each soul to which we minister so that the substantial creative force of the Divine Truth…may also inflow omnipotently into the minds of the people, there to build up the Tabernacle and City of God.  (NCL 1928)