The Gift of Small Things

The Gift of Small Things

“Who dares despise the day of small things?”

(Zechariah 4:10)

My friends rode bicycles, played basketball, and hung out at the soda fountain. They went to movies, had slumber parties, and roller skated. Playing like kids do during summer vacation, my buddies were having a blast, while I was flat on my back in bed – very sick – for the entire season, watching Batman and Gilligan’s Island and Andy Griffith. In black and white. Ten-years-old, I was not happy about my situation.

A family friend, Aunt Speedy, came to visit me at the beginning of that summer with a big box full of little gifts just for me. But her instructions were clear: I could only open one present a day. The gifts weren’t presents that cost a lot of money, but presents that brought a lot of encouragement. Funny stories, home-made treats, hand-written poems and prayers. Most definitely the “small things” referred to in Zechariah 4:10. Not on the scale of a temple being rebuilt, but definitely on the scale of a life being rebuilt. And certainly helpful to a devastated young girl whose life had been put on hold. Who needed something to look forward to each day.

“Who dares despise the day of small things?” the angel asked the prophet Zechariah, who was faced with a “mighty mountain” of rubble that was once the temple in Jerusalem. Daunted by the massive rebuilding project before them, the people were discouraged. God sent a message: Do not despise these small beginnings” (NLT).

Aunt Speedy wasn’t my aunt; she was that sweet little lady who was everyone’s aunt at our church. But the way she lived her life reminds me today, in the aftermath rubble of Harvey, that helping in small ways matters greatly. Big or little. It’s all the same to God. Even simple words of encouragement.