Posts Tagged: the adventure of small things

“The Big Adventure of Little Things”

On June 20, 2020 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

One of the things I do on an almost daily basis for my recovery and sanity is a series of brief (free!) readings from Hazelden Publishing. Hazelden is especially focused on recovery from addiction, but many of their writings simply help people to live sane and mostly happy lives. In other words, these readings are good for just about anyone. Here is a reading for today:

“Saturday, June 20

The most valuable thing we can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of a room, not to try to do or be anything whatsoever.
  —May Sarton

A whole world can be seen through even the smallest window. Knowing this can help us slow down and enjoy everyday events. We can listen to the regular rhythms of letter carriers and school children, dogs and delivery trucks, city buses and song birds playing out a piece of their daily lives outside the window.

We can greet the letter carrier who comes up the walk, feed the robin who lands on the sill, wave to the kids who’ve found a shortcut through our backyards on their way home from school.

It is not necessary, today, for us to fill our lives with important meetings, gala parties, expensive treats, toys, or outings to be happy. There is a whole world to be discovered just outside the nearest window.

What worlds lie on the other side of my window today?” (From Today’s Gift: Daily Meditations for Families ©1985, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation.)

I think we all want to do, to have, and to experience big things. But maybe what we really need to do is to go small. Perhaps there is enough adventure in the small things for us to savor.

I am getting better at this. I used to be restless most of the time, waiting for some big thing to happen. Not so much anymore. I like looking out the window at the trees, laughing with my wife, enjoying a slow cup of coffee. I am learning that little things can be a huge delight.

One of my favorite verses is a little-known verse in a little-known book. “For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice . . . .” (Zechariah 4:10, King James Version) The context of this verse is that the exiles from Judah had been allowed to return to Jerusalem. They were rebuilding the temple, with the encouragement of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. But this temple would not be nearly as grand or big or ornate as the temple that Solomon had constructed. However, the prophets asked a question that was also a rebuke and a challenge: Are you despising the day of small things? Don’t!

Joyce Baldwin, in her excellent commentary on Zechariah for the Tyndale Old Testament Commentary Series notes, “Zechariah, like Haggai, implies that the ‘realists’ were pessimistic about the building project (Hag. 2:3), and so despised the day of small things. They wanted to see it succeed and were glad when it did, but their faith was too small. They would be surprised into rejoicing.”

Surprised into rejoicing! Yes!

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