Remember “Small Things” Matter!

Oct 30

For who has despised the day of small things?

Zechariah 4:10

I tend to think in terms of the “big picture” and am prone to rush past or even dismiss small details. For the past few years, I believe God has been trying to teach me the great value—indeed the eternal value—of small things. This Mother Teresa quote may have gotten the ball rolling,

One of my best teachers has been, Ron, my husband, whose photographs are included in every one of my blog posts. (I think I need to reframe those words to say “OUR” blog posts because the feedback I receive so often is about Ron’s photos, and I cannot imagine doing this blog without his contributions.)

Ron and I enjoy taking walks together, and most often, his camera accompanies us. I admit to sometimes feeling annoyed when my husband spends what feels like an inordinate amount of time trying to capture the activity of some small critter. I forget that small beauties in creation may be an invitation to consider how an infinite God cares intimately about the finite, “small” me.

While thinking about all this, I recalled a verse in Zechariah in which the prophet asks this question: For who has despised the day of small things? This thought comes from a complicated text filled with lots of symbolism I don’t understand. What I learned from a Bible Project video is that the Old Testament book of Zechariah concerned in part dreams and visions about rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem after a long period of exile. Even in the mammoth nature of this task, the prophet implies small things related to this big task are not to be despised.

So, where the rubber of our faith meets the road of our lives, I wonder how this ancient question plays out. What are “small things” we may have considered inconvenient, unnecessary, even unspiritual that may in fact play an important part in the way God is forming