We all have significant and important things that we feel we should do. I have my list. Insert your’s here:
– important stuff
– significant stuff
– major stuff
– save the world stuff
– change your life stuff
The problem is that life is full of little stuff. Full of it! And we have to deal with it. None of it involves taking bows or receiving awards.
It involves things like cleaning, doctor’s appointments, walking the dog, paying bills, doing taxes, changing the oil, giving someone a much needed break.
It is pulling your weight while feeling weighed down.
The little things are some of the most annoying and necessary things in life. It’s easy to feel good about the big things, the important things. These things give your life meaning. They make you feel significant.
The little things just make you feel annoyed and powerless. Lord, give me strength.
But the little things turn out to be important if you don’t do them for awhile. You could find yourself cleaning up after the dog, burning up an engine, getting audited, missing a health problem until it’s too late.
They are also a test of character. I hate those. I would prefer a one-time, multiple-choice, pass/fail character test that I could cram for and then get behind me. If anyone asked if I had character, I could just show them my red-stamped card showing PASSED!
Instead, today I need to do little things. Things that will become big things if I don’t get them done. Like Nessie, who is a small, cute, puppy-sized problem right now. But in six months she will be a huge, dangerous problem with a big appetite and large teeth – unless I train her in the little things now.
I want the beautiful dog in the commercials that sits calmly in the back seat, walks at heel. Who never messes up the carpet or eats the chairs or jumps up on the table or pulls me like a toy wagon on a string.
To get there, I have to do the little things. Now. Sorry, Nessie needs a walk . . . Sit, Nessie. Sit!
“The strongest of all warriors are these two — Time and Patience.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
