Little Things

As we enter into this last month of 2025 – and the first weeks of the new church year – my mind is on a bunch of “little things” … and how so many “little things” make a “BIG DIFFERENCE” in the “long run”.

Like a little conversation I had earlier this week with a friend.  He was rejoicing that in just a few months he will make his last car payment.  This “little thing” will enable him to put away a little money into savings each week.  In the long run this may not only keep him from borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, but even to live a little more comfortably.

Or I think of a lady I met at church last Sunday.  On the way out I noticed concern on her face.  We chatted a few minutes in the doorway and said a prayer.  As we parted I gave her a quick hug.  In a text I received from her the following day she said, “Thank you for checking on me and especially giving me that hug at church, that meant a lot cause you don’t even know me.”  I am praying that little hug may lead to Jesus making a BIG DIFFERENCE in her life over the “long run”.

A couple years ago I conducted a funeral for the wife of a friend’s friend.  A month or two ago this friend’s friend reached out regarding a friend of his whose mother-in-law is in hospice.  This friend’s friend’s friend wondered if, when the time came, I might be willing to conduct the funeral.  I have since visited this 99-year-old lady a few times (and will be again later today) with the comfort of the Gospel.  It’s a very little thing, but I am thinking our God might use it to touch more than one additional life.
 
I will not bore you with the hundred-or-so other similar little things on my mind this day … but I hope it has started you to think about how so often “little things” can make a “BIG DIFFERENCE” in the “long run”.
 
Of course, the same pattern can work in the opposite direction.  There are nights when I wake up somewhere in the middle of the night with an unsettling thought.  As I try to push it out of my mind, another one takes the forefront … and then another … and then another!  These “little things” make a “BIG DIFFERENCE” (in a bad way) in how I sleep the rest of the night … which generally means I will not be worth much in the “long run” the following day.  Of course, just because this is true of me does not mean that it ever happens to you.

My general early morning routine includes three “little things” – devotional reading, prayer, and exercise/walking.  My prayer is that God will use these “little things” to make a BIG DIFFERENCE in me over the “long run”.  Or, more specifically that, “as God’s chosen one, holy and dearly loved, (he will) put on (me) compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, (so that I can) bear with others and forgive … just as the Lord has forgiven me. … Above all (that he) put on (me) love, which is the perfect bond of unity and let the peace of Christ, to which we were also called in one body, rule my heart.” (Colossians 3.12-15)
 
Thus, with all of this, comes a “little word” of blessing for you: “May the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.  And whatever (“little things”) you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3.16-17)  And, yes, it is amazing how a “little thing” like this can make a BIG (and positive) DIFFERENCE in your life over the “long run”!