Little Things...

It is the little things I find that make the biggest difference. Most of us want something big to do something that will feel important. Most of them are good ideas. Perhaps we want to share with the multitudes. Maybe we want to sing a solo that will inspire and move others to tears. Some want to create a program that will alter the lives of the broken and destitute. It is all the better if No one has ever thought of, or designed it this way before. God may have a calling like this for you, but our calling does not begin that way. First God calls us to draw close to Him. It is not about performance and accomplishment so much as it is about relationship. We draw close to God and experience His heartbeat. We learn to move with His heartbeat. Minister to the multitudes? What about reaching out to that woman in the check out line at the grocery, that neighbor who just moved in or has not cut their grass, the babies at church, our own families. Ministry begins with the little things. It is what we do with the little things that defines our heartbeat.

Children have a way of disarming us by cutting right to the truth of the matter and seeing things clearly. But though they see, they look to the adult that are important in their life to know how to interpret what they see. As parents and teachers we shape how a child will react to the events around them. Watch a toddler who is learning to walk. If a big fuss is made when the toddler falls down, he learns to cry or make a fuss each time he falls. If no fuss is made and we wait for the child's reaction, with no apparent concern, that toddler will likely just get up and walk some more. A familiar report I have often heard from adult friends goes something like this,"We were so poor when I was a kid, but we did not know we were poor..." Kids are smart, they know more than we give them credit for, so why didn't these children know? Perhaps because they felt secure, taken care of and loved. Perhaps because wealth in their homes was placed somewhere other than in finances. Perhaps because they never saw or felt their parents worry over money. Those children trusted their parents, just like we should trust God that our needs will be met.