Big Things, Little Things
For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!— 2 Corinthians 4:17
You parents didn’t tell me about the ‘not fun part’ of parenting! You never shared with me the bad cop part of being a parent—you know, the interrogation and the subsequent consequences for poor choices. Yeah. None of you said how fun this would be, especially on the fly.
In all of the craziness here, and oh, boy (and girl, and girl, and girl and boy) has there been CRAZINESS here (by this I mean interrogation and subsequent consequences), I boil a life philosophy down for any who are just starting this venture, or anyone who is caught up in a lot of life mess in the moment. It’s called “Big Things/Little things.”
My kids know Big Things/Little Things. Standing on the edge of the bathtub with wet, slippery fee is a big thing. Not having the tail of the ‘g’ go below the line is a little thing. Lying? Big thing. Spilling OJ over the breakfast table? Little thing.
Regardless of age, we all experience what Paul calls present troubles. Are these present troubles big, or small?
Maybe Paul would say most things are big things because we can learn from our errors. Ah, teaching moments! Life lessons! Here we can see God’s faithfulness when we fail ourselves.
Then, too, Paul may also suggest that most things are little things because any bump or bumble is nothing compared to eternal, blissful life with God that is, indeed, glorious.
Hear Paul. Even our present troubles that seem big are small. The Big Thing is life with God forever.
PRAYER: Lord, help us see the Big Thing when the little things seem to sink us. Amen.
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