Small Amounts of Something

I can under­stand why Jesus said that “even a cup of water in his name” would be remem­bered by Deity. Peo­ple look to the big events. God looks to the small ones. A life well lived is a mil­lion small actions aimed toward the good. Grand hero­ics are for Hol­ly­wood writ­ers. Really chang­ing the world is more likely a com­mon carpenter’s actions in an out of the way coun­try, in an ancient time, with­out lights and cam­eras than some mythic grand global heroic feat.

The great­est accom­plish­ment today will be the small­est act of kind­ness from a sin­cere heart. It will not pro­duce head­lines. More than likely, it will be between only two peo­ple in a quiet con­ver­sa­tion. The big show of grand events serves as more of a dis­trac­tion than an inspi­ra­tion. Talk to a small child today and hear a word from the Lord.

What­ever is accom­plished today will be the result of small amounts of some­thing done toward all that needs to be done. Life may be a ban­quet, but it is still in small bites. We live one sec­ond at a time. A sec­ond seems insignif­i­cant. What we accom­plish in a minute may not seem sub­stan­tial, but by the end of the day these sec­onds and min­utes add up.

My approach to life has to do with chip­ping away at projects, by doing small things almost con­stantly. Avoid­ing tedious and rou­tine tasks holds every­thing else up. Wash those few dishes. Straighten the clut­ter on that table. Make that phone call. Each event is an eter­nal stone in the heav­enly man­sion. Focus on each one. Let God send the next moment. Any fight with time will leave you the loser.

Do some­thing toward the big pic­ture of life. No mat­ter how small, it counts. Marathon races begin as baby steps ear­lier in life. No sym­phony will play to announce your cumu­la­tive efforts today. Do not worry about that. Do those small tasks any­way. Do not wait for the per­fect time to begin mak­ing install­ments on big projects. Just do a lit­tle some­thing toward them here and there. You will be amazed by what hap­pens over time.