Let God Worry About Great Things
By small and simple things are great things brought to pass. Our job is to worry about the small and simple things, and let God worry about the great things. There is this old poem that goes like this, “For want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe, the horse was lost; for want of a horse, the rider was lost; for want of a rider, the battle was lost; for want of a battle, the kingdom was lost; and all for the want of a nail.” A single, nondescript, unforgettable nail can affect the outcomes of kingdoms. There was an idea that gained popularity in the 80s to help illustrate chaos theory that the flapping of a single butterfly’s wings in china could ripple out to cause hurricanes in Florida. We don’t know the final outcomes of our small and simple acts, but God does. We may wish that we could stop mucking about with doing the insignificant, unforgettable, small, right things and do something grand and sweeping and truly meaningful. We may worry that we’re just wasting our time and our talents when we’re “just” helping a kid with their homework, or helping someone carry their groceries to their car, or giving a grieving friend a hug. These are the kind of small and simple things that God uses to bring to pass things too wonderful for us to comprehend. We don’t all have to be some grand general, commanding thousands and holding the fates of entire kingdoms in our hands. We can be a simple little nail, holding a shoe in place so the horse can take the rider to the battle that saves the kingdom. We don’t have to be the hurricane. We can be the little butterfly flapping our wings. We have no idea how many great things have already been brought to pass because of our small acts of random kindness. Our good deeds ripple out and amplify and change the world for the better. The more we give up on the idea of doing great things, the more we can allow ourselves to embrace doing the small and simple things, and the more greatness and goodness God will be able to generate from our small and simple acts.
