Little Things, Big Results

Our clothes dryer at our home  was not working correctly.  The dryer door would not stay shut.  While I recall days in my life  when we did not have a clothes dryer at our house, today there are no clothes lines at our house or in our neighborhood.  The problem with the dryer was a small, but important one:  the small door latch had broken off.   After discovering that the dryer was no longer under warranty, we discovered on the internet not only a company that sold a dryer latch kit for under $5 but also a video that showed how to fix the problem.  In a couple of days, the dryer latch kit arrived at our home and the problem was fixed in a matter of minutes

That experience has had me thinking in recent days about the importance of little things.  The performance of that clothes dryer was dependent on a dryer latch that cost  a retail price of less than $5 and took less than 5 minutes to install.   I believe that the effectiveness of our Christian witness as a church and individuals is also dependent on little things.  It costs no money to share a smile, a warm welcome, or to make a phone call.  It costs little money to send a card to a friend or stranger who is sick and needs encouragement, or to prepare a plate of cookies for a new neighbor.  Yet, what a big effect those little things can have on the friend or stranger at our church, in our neighborhood, or in our workplace.

The apostle Paul uses the human body as a metaphor to make a point about the importance of little things in the body of Christ, the Church.   If you have ever had a toothache or a splinter in a finger, you know well that little things can have a big effect.   In I Corinthians 12, the apostle Paul puts it this way:

¹⁴ For the body does not consist of only one part, but of many. ¹⁵ If the foot says, “Since I’m not a hand, I’m not part of the body,” that does not make it any less a part of the body, does it? ¹⁶ And if the ear says, “Since I’m not an eye, I’m not part of the body,” that does not make it any less a part of the body, does it? ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body^[e] were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But now God has arranged the parts, every one of them, in the body according to his plan.^[f] 19 Now if all of it were one part, there wouldn’t be a body, would there? ²⁰ So there are many parts, but one body.

 There are many people who lament the money or the talents they do not have to make a difference.  Perhaps we need to look not so much at the big things we do not have, but at little things we have and can do to make a difference.  Have a joy-filled week.- Pastor Randy Wall

            Prayer:  Lord and God, thank you  for the grace and goodness you have given me every day of my life.  Help me take action today to touch somebody in your name;  through Christ our Lord.  Amen.