Skip to main content

Small ways, but big memories

Cherish all your happy moments; they make a fine cushion for old age. (Booth Tarkington) 

We all have those moments that have just made an impact on us - times we will never forget. How many of us can say we have 'been' the moment? Good people - going about doing good actions - will be remembered as a blessing in this lifetime and in the long term. Why? Their lives made a positive impact. We want to be the kind of people who make a positive impact on those we are around.

Good people will be remembered as a blessing, but evil people will soon be forgotten. (Proverbs 10:7)

We might want all our actions to add up to making a positive impact, but we would be fooling ourselves to think ALL our actions actually will be remembered. Unfortunately, many times what gets remembered are the 'big' ones - those overt, out-there, bigger than life actions. God's plan isn't for the 'big' ones to be our hallmark, though. It is for the consistency of the small ones all added up that create the impact in ways we may not even see. 

At mom's funeral, I recall the words of the visitation pastor who frequently came to see mom over the last year of her life. His words reflected how 'gracious', 'generous', and 'kind' my mom actually was - in small, very consistent ways. He reflected upon how she always made anyone feel welcomed, how easily she'd talk with others and how she always made their visit special. He commented about how he came to be a blessing to her, but how he always felt blessed in some way by her.

We might think it takes 'big actions' to make a 'big impact' on others, but I think God wants us to challenge that perception today. Small, consistent actions that stem from a loving heart mean way more than those 'big ones'. As we align our heart with God's heart, we will find our actions become more consistent with his. We begin to act graciously, give generously, and respond in kindness one toward another. Small, consistent steps - that is God's plan. We need to be a blessing - in the small ways that all add up to 'big memories'. Just sayin!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What did obedience cost Mary and Joseph?

As we have looked at the birth of Christ, we have considered the fact he was born of a virgin, with an earthly father so willing to honor God with his life that he married a woman who was already pregnant.  In that day and time, a very taboo thing.  We also saw how the mother of Christ was chosen by God and given the dramatic news that she would carry the Son of God.  Imagine her awe, but also see her tremendous amount of fear as she would have received this announcement, knowing all she knew about the time in which she lived about how a woman out of wedlock showing up pregnant would be treated.  We also explored the lowly birth of Jesus in a stable of sorts, surrounded by animals, visited by shepherds, and then honored by magi from afar.  The announcement of his birth was by angels - start to finish.  Mary heard from an angel (a messenger from God), while Joseph was set at ease by a messenger from God on another occasion - assuring him the thing he was about to do in marrying Mary wa

A brilliant display indeed

Love from the center of who you are ; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply ; practice playing second fiddle. Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. (Romans 12:9-12) Integrity and Intensity don't seem to fit together all that well, but they are uniquely interwoven traits which actually complement each other. "Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it." God asks for us to have some intensity (fervor) in how we love (from the center of who we are), but he also expects us to have integrity in our love as he asks us to be real in our love (don't fake it). They are indeed integral to each other. At first, we may only think of integrity as honesty - some adherence to a moral code within. I believe there is a little more to integrity than meets the eye. In the most literal sense,

Do me a favor

If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. (Philippians 2:1-4) Has God's love made ANY difference in your life? What is that difference? Most of us will likely say that our lives were changed for the good, while others will say there was a dramatic change. Some left behind lifestyles marked by all manner of outward sin - like drug addiction, alcoholism, prostitution, or even thievery. There are many that will admit the things they left behind were just a bit subtler - what we can call inward sin - things like jealousy,