THE LITTLE THINGS MEAN A LOT

If we want to know how we will react should a real crisis occur in our lives, all we have to do is reflect on how we handle the little problems that come our way each day. If our normal response is to get right at them and tackle them as they happen, if we get on top of them before they get out of hand, more often than not we will be able to deal with the larger issues when they loom. That does not mean that it will be easy to deal with them. It simply means that we will.

On the other hand, if we procrastinate when those little problems arise, hoping they will go away all on their own or believing that they are not all that important, at least for the moment, we will likely do the same when the situation is in a crisis mode. As a result we will become so overwhelmed that we will not be able to function let alone adequately respond to the crisis at hand, if we can respond at all.

Little things do mean a lot especially when it comes to the manner in which we handle the little things in this life. Thus, if we are honest in small matters, matters of little account for which we may never be held responsible, we will be honest when it comes to larger and more important matters, matters where others do the reckoning and for which we are held accountable.

Of course, the real question to ask if there anything that is truly of little account. Everything that happens in our life, no matter how small, insignificant or seemingly inconsequential is important. Everything happens for a reason even if we cannot understand what that reason is at the moment it happens. And even then, we still have to deal with it.

Not only is it important how we respond to the issues and crises that occur in our lives, it is just as important, no, even more important, whom we choose to serve, who comes first in our lives, who or what drives us. That will truly determine, in the end, how we deal with any issue that arises. If we put ourselves first, our wants and desires, we will make choices that will benefit us often at the detriment and expense of others. But if we choose to put God first, while our wants and desires may not always be fulfilled, our needs certainly will.

We make choices every day, often without thinking much about them ahead of time. We simply react to what has happened. We want those reactions to be what our actions would have been had we given ourselves or been given enough time to ponder the right response. But for that to happen, immediately responding to little matters and making the right choices in small decisions has to be habitual.

The Christian life is to be a habit that becomes us. It is who we are. We don the habit slowly, thoughtfully, carefully. It takes time and practice and entails many mistakes. We do not wear it all at once. We have to learn how to become comfortable in it and that comes from attending to the small things when they occur and doing the small things well each time.