All of my life I felt that I had to do something BIG. Big is better you know, at least that is what the world tells us.
Once I became a Christian, what the world thought didn’t matter to me any more, or at least I thought it didn’t. My desire for BIG remained, now I wanted to serve God in big ways, I wasn’t interested in anything small.
I have been walking this Christian walk for almost 30 years and I have yet to do anything big. After years of seeking big, I found myself middle aged and utterly disappointed with my small self.
The truth is, I’m surrounded by small – I live in a small town, work a small job, attend a small church. If I were to be honest – I live a small life.
These past months I have been in a season of searching my soul, sitting quiet with the Lord. Wondering what big thing He was calling me to and how was I missing it?
That’s when I heard it, the whisper, “The Small Things Matter to Me.”
Can I love big – in small ways?
I pulled a tablet out of my desk drawer and began a list, across the top I scrawled…
A Year of Small Things
At first I had more questions than answers
Would small things make any kind of difference? I don’t know
Would I dare to love great in the small things for one year, 365 days? I can try
Do I have the time? Nope
The energy? Some days
The creativity? None
As doubts filled my head, ideas poured in, in greater measure
Washing dishes
Sitting in a waiting room
Holding a grieving friend’s hand
Sending a card
Faithfully praying, really praying for others
Making and taking a meal
Driving someone to a doctor’s appointment
Inviting someone over for dinner
Changing bed sheets
Scrubbing a bathroom
Smiling and acknowledging people as we pass by
Paying a visit to a home bound friend
Baking (or buying) a birthday cake
Making coffee
Sending flowers
Listening, really listening
Send an encouraging message or text
Care packages from our garden
And this is just the beginning …
I found myself in Matthew chapter thirteen as Jesus talks about how God’s Kingdom will grow through tiny seeds.
Seeds like mustard seeds, seeds that are the smallest of seeds, when they are sown they grow, not into a plant or a bush, but trees. Trees large enough that birds will come and rest in their branches.
Small things, done with great love can be sown into the hearts of people. Tiny seeds planted into God’s Kingdom that are the smallest of all, but grow big.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, 32 which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
Matthew 13: 31-32
The procrastinator within me says, Start in the New Year.
The Holy Spirit whispers within me saying, start today.
Today it is !
Follow along with me, in a year of counting small things, given with great love.
