It's almost unbelievable how anything so huge can come from something so small.

The Sierra redwoods - or giant sequoias as they are also called - in California are the world's largest living things but yet they begin from tiny seeds that resemble flakes of oatmeal and which take 6,000 of them to weigh just one ounce.How can such tiny seeds grow into such mighty trees, some of which are estimated to weigh 2,600 tons or about as much as a small ocean-going freighter or 18 great blue whales? How can a seed measuring approximately an eighth of an inch produce a tree reaching a height up to more than 300 feet and a diameter up to 30 feet? How can anything grow so large from something so small - as did the most recently fallen redwood in the North Grove at Calaveras Big Trees State Park in northern California - that many people thought an earthquake had occurred when it crashed to the ground in September 1965?

If we can see that such tiny seeds can produce such giant trees, perhaps then we can better understand the Lord's statement to the Prophet Joseph Smith when He said:

". . . And out of small things proceedeth that which is great." (D&C 64:33.)

Are we not taught that principle in the Book of Mormon by Alma in his discourse on faith? We know that our faith in the beginning may be small and weak, but, depending upon how we nourish it, it can grow until it swells within our breasts, enlarges our souls and enlightens our understanding. (See Alma 32:26-34.)

The same is true of our testimonies, of our ability to magnify our callings in the Church. Certainly, Joseph Smith did not come onto the stage of life as a mighty prophet. During his young years, he was unlearned and unschooled whose "circumstances in life

wereT such as to make a boy of no consequence in the world. . . ." (Joseph Smith-History 1:22.) During the first dozen years or so of his life, he undoubtedly did not appear much different than the thousands of other young boys who were born into poverty-stricken circumstances of America's frontier in the early 1800s.

To the world, Joseph in 1820 was "an obscure boy." (JS-H 1:22.) To the Lord, however, he was never obscure, for he had been chosen for his high and holy calling in pre-mortality. But he had to be molded, "line upon line, precept upon precept." (See D&C 98:12.) As Joseph walked from the grove of trees in upstate New York that spring day he had had his first lesson in being schooled by the Master, and from that tutoring became the great prophet of the Restoration. "Out of small things proceedeth that which is great." The life of the Prophet Joseph Smith clearly illustrates the truthfulness of that scripture.

Each of us, in our own spheres of responsibility in the Church, can also be molded by the Lord if we are willing to subject our will to His. We, too, can proceed from small things to great accomplishments. More often than not, great things come from small beginnings.

". . . By small and simple things are great things brought to pass," Alma counseled his son Helaman. "And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls." (Alma 37:6-7.)

Our seemingly small acts can produce huge results. No one should underestimate the good that can come from what may seem to be small and simple acts of kindness, of compassion, of faith, of testimony, of service, of righteousness. However, just as the tiny Sierra redwood seeds take hundreds of years to grow into mighty trees, we, too, may have to be patient to see the results of our efforts.

But no one in the Church should feel that their contributions are small and inconsequential. No one should feel that what they are doing in the Church doesn't make any difference. Remember the story of the missionary who felt his mission was a failure because he baptized only one "little urchin" in Wales. But that little boy was Charles A. Callis, who became president of the Southern States Mission and later a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. (Improvement Era, June 1955, p. 421.)

"You know, brethren, that a very large ship is benefited very much by a very small helm in the time of a storm, by being kept workways with the wind and the waves," the Prophet Joseph Smith wrote while a prisoner in the Liberty Jail in March 1839.

"Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; . . ." (D&C 123:16-17.)

We are at the helm of our individual responsibilities. What we do in the Church does matter. And like the giant redwoods that reach ever upward, we can do great things in helping to build the kingdom of God on earth if we continually look heavenward.