Fulfill any vow that issues from your lips – doing as you have vowed to G-d, your G-d – and any dedication that you have uttered with your mouth.
Deuteronomy 23:24
We are taught then when a person vows to offer up a young animal as a sacrifice on the Altar but in fact offers up a larger, mature animal of the same species, he is still considered to have truthfully and faithfully fulfilled the vow “that issued from his lips.”
This is true despite the fact that he vowed to offer up, say, a calf, yet offered up a bull, and a bull is not a calf. The reason for this is because it is assumed that the person desires to do the most that he can; therefore, when he vows to offer up a calf, he means, “at least a calf,” and thus his vow already implies offering up a cow or a bull.
The same is true spiritually. In the beginning stages of our journey, all we can safely “afford” to devote to G-d – whether in adding spiritual content to our lives or refraining from spiritually harmful practices – is a “young animal,” small, measured steps.
In our impatience for results, such small steps might seem frustratingly insignificant to us, but since we are moving in the right direction, the “large animal,” the larger steps that we will certainly take in the future, are already included in our present stage of the process. Keeping this in mind will help us to remain focused and joyfully motivated as we progress on our spiritual path.
— Daily Wisdom 3