Cherishing the Little

Prompt: Little

“Do not despise the day of small beginnings.” – Zechariah 4:10

// For some reason when faced with the word “little” all by itself and in no particular context, my mind automatically jumps to a negative mood. Why write about ‘little’? Little is unimportant, unnoticed, and forgotten.  Little is overlooked and lost among the big and impressive. But that is only according to our human “wisdom.” Simply Tuesday is helping me to see ‘little’ in another light.

Little is the way our Savior came to our world, entering the confines of space and time. He lived through all the little moments of mundane, daily life, yet in a holy, God-glorifying way. He gave us pictures of the way he values the little – little faith, the size of a mustard seed, little people in the souls of our children, and little steps on the path of following him. 

He continues to reveal himself in the little moments to me each day – a little breeze to soothe the heat of the sun, a little conversation that shows me how my children are growing in their grasp of the Truth, and a little moment of glory playing out in the strikingly bright moon and her bath of illuminated clouds. //

I can look back on some pivotal moments of growth and maturing in my life and they often hinge on a very small incident – an unassuming word or two here, a quiet example there – yet something large and foundational shifts because of those little moments. 

Recognizing the greatness of our Creator and Savior and the magnitude of His work gives us the perspective to see how little we actually are, and it also frees us to be okay with that smallness. He teaches us not to despise the small moments, small faith, and small people because He is big enough to take them and work big things in and through them. And when we acknowledge His big work in our little offerings we are released to worship Him rather than ourselves, which is ultimately the struggle we engage in daily in our desire to be and do the big and important. 

So let’s not despise the little things, but rather receive and cherish them as a gift that helps us to center ourselves around the only Great One who is big enough to make much out of our little offerings and to redeem our big mistakes.

I am continuing on with my Write 31 Days theme of "31 Days to Slowing Down and Living More Simply" with reflections based on my reading of Emily P. Freeman's book Simply Tuesday and the prompts given at the FMFW page. My "Five Minute Free Write" portion will be enclosed with // and any extra thoughts will follow.

For more '31 Days' Posts click here or on the tab at the top of the page.