在1848年，工程師小查理斯．埃萊特（Charles Ellet Jr.）受聘建造首座橫跨尼加拉瀑布峽谷的大橋，但他非常苦惱：要如何把纜線拉到對岸呢？後來他受到夢境的啟發，決定舉辦一場風箏比賽。一名美國少年的風箏成功落在河的對岸，贏得五美元獎金。工程人員把這少年的風箏線固定在一棵樹上，然後用這風箏線將一條細繩從對岸拉過來，接著再拉更粗的繩索，最後才是建橋所需的粗鋼纜。這就是建造尼加拉瀑布吊橋的微小開始。

建橋的挑戰和這不被看好的開始，與被擄返鄉的以色列百姓所面對的情況相似。當時他們從巴比倫返回耶路撒冷，準備重建上帝的聖殿。先知撒迦利亞在異象中被天使喚醒，天使告訴他，沒有任何事能攔阻上帝的工作，上帝的靈會做成一切的事（撒迦利亞書4章6節）。當中有些人曾親眼目睹過去那榮耀的聖殿，害怕重建的聖殿會相形見絀（以斯拉記3章12節）。但天使鼓勵撒迦利亞，他們不應「藐視這日的事為小」，因上帝「歡喜」看見他們開始動工（撒迦利亞書4章10節）。

即使上帝指派我們去做的事看似微不足道，但我們仍然可以有信心，因知道上帝常常會使用微小的事物，比如風箏線，來完成祂偉大的工作。

In 1848, engineer Charles Ellet Jr. puzzled over how to begin the process of constructing the first bridge over the Niagara Falls gorge. How would they get a cable across the river? Prompted by a dream, Charles decided to host a kite-flying contest. American teenager Homan Walsh won five dollars when his kite landed on the American side of the river. Homan’s kite string was secured to a tree and used to pull a light cord back across the river, then progressively heavier cords until heavy wire cable was in place. This was the small beginning of the construction of the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge.

The bridge’s challenges and inauspicious beginnings mirror those faced by those working to rebuild God’s temple after returning from captivity in Babylon. An angel awakened the prophet Zechariah with a message that nothing would thwart God’s work—it would all be accomplished “by [his] Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6). Some of those who’d seen the temple in its previous glory were fearful that the rebuilt version would pale in comparison (Ezra 3:12). The angel encouraged Zechariah that they shouldn’t “despise the day of small things” because God would “rejoice” in seeing the work begun (Zechariah 4:10).

Even though the tasks God has appointed to us may seem insignificant, we can be encouraged knowing He uses small things—like kite strings—to accomplish His great works.