Which is better, to be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond? Most of us have probably been in both situations at some time. Malcolm Gladwell’s book David and Goliath discusses the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect in several contexts. Basically, the theory says that it is better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond. Gladwell give the example of the late 19th century Impressionist painters (Monet, Degas, Cezanne, Pizzaro, Renoir, Sisley), who were the little fish repeatedly spurned by the prestigious and highly competitive Paris Salon (the big pond). Instead of letting the rejection derail their movement, they decided to have their own smaller exhibition, and eventually, their art became the most desirable art movement of all time, today collectively worth billions. They decided to be big fish in a little pond and it worked for them.
The little fish in a big pond struggles to perform, to learn something way too hard, to compete with the big guys on their playing field, resulting in much frustration and rejection. If you were ever one of the last ones picked for the team, you know how you really wanted to just disappear. The harder you tried, the worse off you were because you knew the deck was stacked against you and it was a no-win deal. You arms are too short, you can’t get that math concept, you can’t reach that high note without a screech. We all can name some “I can’t”s, the source of past and maybe even lingering emotional pain. On rare occasion it prompts dogged perseverance until that thing is conquered, but more often, it ends up in defeat and surrender. If you are the little fish in a big pond, you need to get out of the ocean and find a smaller pond. You find that you will suddenly become a whole lot bigger with the support of fellow fish.
The other extreme, being the biggest fish in a small pond amid a lot of little fish, means that you always have to be on your game. No failures are allowed. What would happen to your reputation if you messed up more than the one time that everyone can excuse. You need to continuously do something bigger and better to impress the rest. If you are that oversized fish and it’s overcrowded, you need to find a larger pond to be both successful and challenged.
Successful living is finding the right size pond for what you are called to do or want to accomplish. If you are a little fish in a big pond, you risk feeling unimportant and invisible. If you are too big for your pond, you end up hurting the little fish in order to stay on top of the food chain. It reminds me of the story of Goldilocks and the three bears—the chair was not too little, not too big, just the right size.
I thought about all of this fishy business as it relates to church life. Let’s remove competition here, even though it would be naive to say churches don’t have competition. Some people prefer megachurches (big pond) because they can attend without having to commit to anything. They like the anonymity (little fish in a big pond). However, this really amounts to being a weekly tourist. It’s harder to “blend into the crowd” in a small church. You may gain anonymity, but it is at the cost of the motivation to move toward your destiny. The Church is intended to be a community, a pond where the fish can thrive. Large churches typically have many opportunities for small group ministries (a smaller pond) and usually encourage people to join one or more. Small churches by virtue of their size have space for fish to grow and multiply.
The pond is not only about physical size. It’s also a metaphor for your sphere of influence. The Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect works here too. We each have a circle of influence—people we can touch with the gospel and blessing. It’s our pond. If we are the little fish in the big pond, we have no influence. Small fish have no voice in a huge pond. If you are a great big fish, your influence is proportionately larger and the influence in broader. It is in our right size pond that we have the greatest effectiveness.
Should we all strive to become big fish in a big pond? Better than striving for size, we should be striving to become what God has designed us to be and to swim in the pond He has for us. He may send us to a new pond now and then, one larger or smaller than where we are, but then again, He may not. Some are called to swim in the same pond for a very long time to help new little fish grow. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind” (Matt. 13:47). God has a huge variety of fish and ponds, and has a just-right one for each of us.
Copyright 2016 by Eva Benevento.
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