Little Things

“Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!” ~ Matthew 25:21 (NLT)

Acts 10:13 reads, “And there came a voice to him, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’” My family has always taken this verse very seriously. My uncle bought me the first gun I ever owned– on my first birthday!

One of my first hunting memories was my dad letting me carry around an empty BB gun when I was 6 years old. I may have been young, but I kind of figured that ammo was fairly important to shooting a gun (I was a child genius…haha). I wanted to be able to actually hunt so bad - I could hardly stand it. I didn’t understand why he left the bullets in the truck.

Trying to keep up with my then short legs, I was told that I had one little task for this whole day, and that was to keep that gun barrel pointed only at things I intended to shoot. The first time my dad looked over and he was staring down the barrel…that gun was taken away.

Dad asked the guys he was hunting with to stop. He knelt down right in the middle of that field and explained the consequences of my action if that gun had been loaded. “What if you had tripped and the gun somehow went off”…I was bawling at this point...he continued, “I can’t wait for the day you and I can make some awesome memories out here hunting, but until I can trust you to with this little thing, you will get to walk around with that empty BB gun.”

That wasn’t the last time that gun was taken away – slow learner I guess. There was very little that I felt I could accomplish, nor was I in any danger to anyone holding that empty BB gun. But I began to understand just how important the “little things” really were.

Today, the same desire to do the BIG things is still there for me. I want to do extraordinary things in my work, in my home, and most importantly, for God. It’s the little things, as important as they may be, that have always seemed to get in the way.

I believe that those little things are as vital as any BIG thing could ever be.

You may say, “I want to accomplish extraordinary success in my career.” You need to ask – Am I faithful with the menial tasks I am being asked to do now? Are you giving the little things the efforts that they need? You may feel like you’re trying to hunt with an empty gun, but I want to encourage you to be faithful with what little you have been given.

You may say, “I want to do extraordinary things for God!” You may think it would be an incredibly rich experience to be a missionary in another country and impact the lives of so many that have never had a relationship with God! We hear of stories of people who are doing incredibly BIG things for God…and I want to be a part of that. But I think you need to ask, “Am I being faithful with the little things I have already put in front of me? Am I having that kind of impact in my home, in my neighborhood, with the people I work with every day?" Until you are able to say, “Yes,” why should we be disappointed when we are not asked to do BIG things?  

See, those little things mean a whole lot more than we think.

In keeping with Braschler tradition, my brothers and dad bought my son, Caleb, a .410 shotgun for his first birthday. I plan to take him out just like my dad did for me - empty BB gun in his hand, wondering why we left the bullets in the truck…Little things.

"Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things… I am tempted to think there are no little things."~ Bruce Barton

Reflection:

• What are the little things that you are extremely faithful with?
• What are some little things in your life that need some attention and effort this week?