Friday, January 10, 2014

The Big Picture and Sweating the Small Stuff

You've probably heard the phrase "Don't sweat the small stuff," right?

I was thinking... it's all the small things that become our life's sum...the big picture is comprised of all the little moments, isn't it?  There are so many seemingly small things every single day...we wake up.  Brush our teeth. Take a shower. Shave. Take care of children.  Take care of spouses.  There are toilets to clean and dinner to be made, home work to help with and laundry and dishes, driving and our car needs gas (all the time) to take us to voice and karate classes, dentist appointments, church and school meetings, clothes shopping and laundry (oh, the ever piling chore) and then we wake up and begin again...we spin like clay on a potter's wheel - the wheel turns, the world turns, and we, like clay, are shaped and formed in our Master's hands.



Oswald Chambers said this:
A spiritually vigorous saint never believes that his circumstances simply happen at random, nor does he ever think of his life as being divided into the secular and the sacred. He sees every situation in which he finds himself as the means of obtaining a greater knowledge of Jesus Christ, and he has an attitude of unrestrained abandon and total surrender about him. The Holy Spirit is determined that we will have the realization of Jesus Christ in every area of our lives, and He will bring us back to the same point over and over again until we do. Self-realization only leads to the glorification of good works, whereas a saint of God glorifies Jesus Christ through his good works. Whatever we may be doing— even eating, drinking, or washing disciples’ feet— we have to take the initiative of realizing and recognizing Jesus Christ in it. Every phase of our life has its counterpart in the life of Jesus.


I happen to believe he's right...and at the end of the day, it's all the little things that make a life.  For in Him, we live and move and have our being, Acts 17 tells us.  So all those "small" and insignificant things are not so small or insignificant.  Everything was created in Him, for Him and by Him, and He is the One Who holds all things together, including me! (Colossians 1)

Maybe there's nothing small or insignificant - even cleaning toilets and doing dishes or wiping little noses - not when it's done for Him.  When the pieces of my life are shattered - broken relationships, broken dreams or broken hearts, I simply offer them back to the One who holds my heart in His hands and trust that He is using all those smashed up little pieces of my life to fashion them into a beautiful mosaic, a work of art, that reflects His love in and through me. We are His "poeima," His work of art. (Ephesians 2:10)

So I don't sweat the "small" stuff, instead I entrust it all to the Master Artist of my life. Even if I don't see a beautiful mosaic, I trust Him (the Author and Finisher of my faith) to finish the process, as He sees fit.