"The Day of Small Things" - Part 2

Big moments happen, and they are important.

But mostly, life is made up of thousands and thousands of small moments. Ordinary days. It is these small, ordinary moments that give real meaning to the big ones.

Recently we had a wedding in our family. That's a big moment! On the morning of the wedding, I came out to the kitchen and saw my son sitting at the table eating breakfast. How many thousands of times had he eaten breakfast at our table? But this was the last time....at least the last one he would eat here as a single guy at home, because by the end of that day his life would fundamentally change. He would be married, and "home" would be somewhere else.

It made me so grateful for all the ordinary days that preceded that one! It reminded me of one of my favorite verses for parenting: "Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day." (Ps.96:2) From day to day. Day to day. That's what parenting is all about. It is a privilege to give our children the Word of God, as well as the physical care they need, on every ordinary day, in all the small moments. It's like building a wall one stone at a time. Every stone is important. Each one may seem small and insignificant, but they add up to something strong and wonderful.

The beauty and joy of that wedding lay in the fact that both my son and his bride have given themselves whole-heartedly to the Lord, who was presented to them day after day by their parents, in all the "days of small things". It was their response to Him in the ordinary days that made their big day so glorious.

Perhaps an even more poignant illustration lies in my memory of January 2, 2021. I sat on the side of the hospital bed, watching my husband labor to breathe. It was well-nigh miraculous that I was there at all.....nobody was allowed to visit a Covid floor of the hospital at that time. But God had practically parted the Red Sea for me, and there I was. Not much conversation could be had. Dan's face was covered with a bipap mask. I was wearing the required double-covering of a mask plus a face shield. It was a very strange feeling, to be that close to him, and yet so separated by layers of materials and by the constant sound of machines.

I sat with him for fifteen hours that day, until they finally came to transport him up to the ICU at 2 am. The hours were long. So many thoughts ran through my mind. Of course, we didn't know what the outcome would be, but by that time I think we both realized it could possibly be the last time we would be together. What do you say in a moment like that??!! It feels weighty and significant! It's a "big moment" that feels awfully uncomfortable. I remember thinking, "Thirty-one-and-a-half years comes down to THIS?"

A strong truth hit me squarely in the face at that moment. Last words can be beautiful, but they are not the most important. If you haven't been saying it all along, in all the ordinary days, then the last words in the big moment won't ring true. They won't carry weight. It's the day of small things that makes the big moment meaningful.

It made me so grateful to God for getting hold of my heart at a young age. I had been deliberate about loving and appreciating my husband all along....not perfect, but genuinely intentional. As I spoke my awkward words of thanks and love to him in that strange hospital atmosphere, I knew we could both remember many words of thanks and love in better circumstances. The ordinary days gave meaning to that last difficult day.

Every day is precious. Every day is a gift. We are taught in Psalm 90 to pray thus, "So teach us to number our days, that we may present to Thee a heart of wisdom." Today has a number, in your life and mine. We can easily ask Siri or Google to tell us how many days we've lived, from our birth to the present day. What we don't know is how many we have left.

We can easily be tempted to despise the day of small things.....to view today as insignificant, something to be endured...and to strain our minds toward the next big thing we think is coming. But this is not God's way. Every day matters to Jesus. Every day is to be treasured. Right now is our opportunity to walk with Him. Then our days will count for His glory.