Small Things Really Matter
I’ve been a bit absent from the entire blog thing these past weeks. Christmas Eve Services, Christmas, traveling to NC to be with family, returning home, and of course, trying to step into the New Year, got me a bit off tract. It’s been a bit busy with a tad of craziness. It is officially time to get back into the swing of things.
In preparation for each New Year, I always create a Spiritual Growth Plan. It has nothing to do with resolutions. But rather, it’s a strategy set in place to help me grow, flourish, and of course, be challenged. I requires me to seriously seek God, asking what my focus is to be. This year as I thought, prayed, and mapped out my new plan, I was challenged that it’s not just the big things, but the little ones that matter - not only in growth, but with how we make a difference in the world and eternity.
All too often, I tend to become a bit hyper-focused on the big things, when the small, seemingly unimportant can actually make the greater impact. As I pondered this challenge, I was reminded of a beautiful, more mature woman with whom I eventually developed a very special friendship, while living in Southern California. Her name was Mary. Mary was about 4 ft. 10 in., and weighed all of 90 pounds. She was from Scotland, extremely feisty, and had the most perfect Scottish accent ever. I loved her!
I first encountered Mary when she showed up at my home for a “Pastor’s Chat” - a very informal gathering which took place in our home every six weeks for people who were new to our church. We would relax in our living room, eat great pie, chat, get to know each other, and tell everyone more about the church.
Mary arrived with a friend, who had undoubtedly bribed her to come, as she gave the impression that she wanted to be anywhere other than our home. No sooner were introductions made, than she looked straight at my husband and said with all her Scottish feistiness, “You’re not going to save me!” “Of course not.” Stan replied, “I would never try to do that.”
I asked Mary if she would like something to drink. As she followed me over to the counter, she commented on a particular teapot that was displayed. Now at that time, I was a serious teacup/teapot collector. I mean SER-I-OUS. It had taken years to acquire my precious collection while on various missions’ trips to England. They were my gorgeous, unique prized possessions. However, May didn’t comment on the more precious items, but on the cheapest teapot I owned. One that had actually come from Cracker Barrel. Crazy!
After getting something to drink and settling on my couch, Mary seemed to relax a bit. The next hour and a half was filled with great conversation, laughter, learning about one another and making new friends. But at some point during the conversations, serving pie, and learning names, I heard a still, small voice tell me to, “Give the teapot to Mary.” This seemed crazy! Wouldn’t one of the nicer ones be a better gift? But once again I heard, “Give the teapot to Mary.”
Later when everyone was preparing to leave, I quietly slipped away and put the teapot and cup in a gift bag. I came up beside Mary, handed her the bag, and whispered, “Here’s a little something for you. Don’t open it till later.” She looked confused, sort of shrugged her shoulders, mumbled “thank you,” and left. “Well, that’s the end of that!” I thought.
I later learned that giving Mary this small token, costing me almost nothing, actually played a part in her coming to church the next week, which ultimately lead to her salvation. As she became part of our church, Mary and I developing a very sweet, loving friendship. I loved our conversations. She made me laugh and taught me how to make Guinness Pie, one of my favorite English dishes. I always looked forward to our times together. She was sweet, kind,and funny, and her Scottish accent always seemed to make everything better. Mary quickly became one of my very favorite people.
A year or more into mine and Mary’s friendship, a mutual friend told me, “You know, Mary’s really changed since she started coming to church. Her mouth was worse than any trucker or sailor you’d ever meet!” I would have never guessed! Apart from her initially telling my husband “You can’t save me,” I’d never heard anything but kindness from Mary, as most of my experience was with the Mary who had been transformed by the power of Jesus Christ.
As I think about Mary, I realize that perhaps she would have come to church without having received a gift in the form of a teapot…or perhaps she wouldn’t. I’ll never know. I've often wondered if that simple act of kindness, even if it made her feel obligated in some way, was part of God wooing her to Him.
We will really never know the full impact of the simple things that we do. However, we can definitely know that they matter. The small things help us to close the gap between how we love Jesus and how we love others, learning to love those around us well. In doing so, the way we speak, act, give, receive, love and help others really does matter. This most often happens in the small and seemingly insignificant.
If God’s kindness leads us to repentance, as stated in Romans 2:4, would God in us, manifesting Himself through our kindness, even in the small things, be part of the repentance journey for others? That being said, could the opposite of His kindness – judgment, emotional outbursts, selfishness and rudeness, or even ignoring those around us prevent others from coming to Him?
Just before Christmas, I received a call that Mary had passed away. She was 90 years old. My heart was sad, but it was also extremely grateful that God loved me enough to give me Mary, if only for a few years. My life will forever be transformed by her influence, humor, kindness, authenticity, lovability and spunk. She taught me a great lesson - that it’s not just the large things, but the small things that truly matter.
That being said, let’s not get so focused on the large things that we discount the small in 2017. They really do matter.
