The day of small things

By Rob Hurtgen

Few, if any, set out to be average. None dream the daring dream of being ordinary. Those who conquer mountains inspire many; conquering a mountain of socks moves few. When it comes to the extraordinary, we seek it in abundance. Yet when it comes to the ordinary, the everyday, we tend to see nothing really worthwhile. God, however, has a different perspective.

The Lord tells his servant Zechariah, “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin ...” (Zech. 4:10). God is as much at work in the small things as the big. In the beginnings as well as the conclusions.

The main problem with small things is that they are, in fact, small. They seem inconsequential. They seem to have little, if any, impact. There is no way the small things can add up to anything.

We view things as small in comparison to something else. Smallness compared to bigness. Greatness contrasted with mediocrity.

In the book of Ezra, the people compared the small temple they had rebuilt after it laid in ruins for decades to the memory of the big temple that once stood where the new one did.

Those who could remember the old and compare it to the new wept. The one was big in memory, emotion and even the materials used in its construction. This new one was small and could not compare. What is now will never be as it was.

We often view our lives with similar grief. What is was will never be again. The energy I once had, I will never have again. The marriage I once had is now shattered in divorce. The life I once had, now that my spouse has died, will never be the same.

We often conclude that life after tragedy will never be the same.

Life may, in fact, never be as it once was. That does not mean life will never be good again.

The solution when things are not as they once were is not to give up, but to not despise the small things. By celebrating the simple. Day after day, week after week seeing the small things add up. Realizing, in faith, that God is at work, even in the small things.