Artaxerxes, the king of Persia, was in town.  Omisus, a local landowner, saw a chance to make an impression. 

He presented the king with an enormous pomegranate.  “If this fruit pleases the king, his servant will present him with an entire field’s worth of such pomegranates.”

The king marveled.  “By Mithras! This man would speedily make a small city a great one if he were entrusted with it!”

And so, Omisus was appointed mayor of his city.

It’s an old lesson: “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.” (Luke 16:10). 

J. Mills Goodloe, a successful screenwriter (Pride – 2007), tells the story of how he got his first job in Hollywood, working for producer Richard Donner (Superman, X-Men). 

In the job interview, Donner casually mentioned how he was having difficulty finding lightning-detecting devices for some obscure use on a studio project.  It was an off the cuff illustration of the challenges he faced and types of problems he needed solved on the job

Mills Goodloe went and found the three producers of these devices in the U.S. – in the early 90s when you couldn’t just Google it.  He sent their names and addresses to Donner with a thank you letter.

He was the only candidate who paid enough attention to solve an actual problem of his future boss before he even had the position.  And so, he got hired right away.

Pay attention to the seemingly small details.  This especially applies if you think someone important might eventually see.

But it’s also why we put exacting care into cultivating the seemingly small object that is our character. “One in 7.7 billion, who cares?” 

We do.  Virtue is the way you prove that you are worthy of larger tasks.

Stay Ancient,

Alex