It’s the Little Things make the New Year (Daily Democrat)

Daily Democrat Dec. 31, 2010

“Little things” are the best presents.  I don’t mean a smaller gift, rather those small things we notice.  A favorite in my house, I’ve heard, is when dishes are washed, especially without request.  During Christmas many of us exchanged gifts, but I am sure most of you were more touched by a “little thing.”  

Jesus told us that “‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches’” (Matthew 13: 31-32). Making it clear that just as something so little as a mustard seed becomes a home for birds, so is our faith.   Jesus teaches us, “…if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)  It is not the moving of mountains or a large sign that tells us to have faith.  It is the “little things.”

So what are the “little things” that expand into the Kingdom of God for you?  Is it someone holding the door?  Children doing things without being asked?  Seeing a lovely bird of God’s Creation?  A sunset?  There are of course numerous “little things” that reminds us that God is calling us and loving us.  If someone wants God to be revealed by a large sign, remind them it is the “little things” in which miracles and faith start to grow into the whole Kingdom of God.  We are to find these manifestations of the Divine and let them grow until the Kingdom of God is on earth as it is in Heaven. 

Jesus came to live among us, and just like us came as a baby, and that is the greatest “little thing” I received this Christmas, or for that matter, in my life.  This King of all Kings grew into a man that would bring atonement to the world.  To know Jesus as your Redeemer and Savior allows you to have a faith that grows by seeing all the “little things” that reveal God’s glory and grace in the world.  Let us go into the New Year looking and sharing glimpses of Jesus’ Divine Love, with the help of the Holy Spirit, so more will do the same, and our mustard seed faith will become home for every person.