"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." Robert Brault
This message graced my colorful little desk calendar earlier this week. I tore it off as I was watching parents up and down our street as they waited for the bus with their children on the first day of school. I wanted to run to the door and yell "Enjoy the little things.…." But I didn’t, lest they think I had completely lost my mind. They didn’t need someone who had stood where they now stand telling them how quickly the time goes, reminding them to enjoy the little things….sticky fingers, toothless smiles, lost shoes, silly giggles. They were engrossed in preserving the moment with video and photos which will be treasured for years to come.
Our days, our years, are made up of little and big ‘things’….washing the dishes, making appointments, receiving accolades, delivered disappointments, driving in traffic, walking the dog, caring for an aging parent….the list goes on. Every day we take the small scraps of the fabric of our life and bind them together with the threads of patience, love, commitment, frustration, determination, hope, and perhaps faith. Each night we crawl under the weight and comfort of this crazy quilt of the little and big things that have happened that day. Under its warmth,some nights bring spectacular dreams and others, nightmares.
When I listen to people tell of those things, those times they most treasure, they are often the little things….walking through the woods, observing a hummingbird feeding, making mudpies, simply sitting with a wrinkled, weathered hand in theirs, snuggling with a small child reading a favorite story. Of course, big splashy vacations are fine, mountaintop moments are not to be dismissed. But for my money, I’ll take the little things, the ordinary tasks and gifts of every day that add up to so many big memories. The simple encounters of another person, a shared meal, a good laugh or a tender tear….little things in the scope of the universe….big things in the fabric of our lives.
Today may God give me…give you…the grace to recognize those little ‘things’ and to hold them dear.
"Apprehend God in all things, for God is in all things. Every single creature is full of God and a book about God. If I spent enough time with the tiniest creature-even a caterpillar-I would never have to prepare a sermon. So full of God is every creature." Meister Eckhart(1260-c.1329)