Zechariah 4:10a “Who dares despise the day of small things?” (NIV)
Think for a second: How many people do you know? And how many people know you? There are over 7.7 billion people in this world. It would be impossible to get to know all of them, and it would be just as impossible for all of them to know you. So we concentrate on people who are important to us: family members that we love, caring professionals who offer us assistance, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and so on. We also understand that people who are important to us aren’t necessarily important to others. That’s especially true in the case of people with special needs—people who don’t know them all too easily reject and neglect them. When that happens to someone we love, we feel hurt ourselves.
But we never want to forget that all people are important to God. All people. All 7.7 billion of them. That includes you. That includes your child. And it includes everything about your lives.
It’s this understanding of God’s love and concern for all people that helps us comprehend what God is saying in this Scripture reading from Zechariah. The words come to the prophet in connection with the rebuilding of the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem. In such a project, many small tasks had to be performed in order to achieve the final result: a beautiful building for the Lord.
God doesn’t command us today to build buildings in his name; instead, his Church is built of his people. As the apostle Peter writes, “As you come to him, the Living Stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious, you also, like living stones, are being built as a spiritual house” (2 Peter 2:4,5a). And just like any other building project, many small tasks bring about the final, completed structure.
Isn’t this exactly what God does in our lives? He gives us work to do that challenges us but ultimately strengthens us. In everything he is drawing us closer to himself and reminding us that we are part of something much bigger and much longer lasting: the eternal kingdom of Christ Jesus. Sometimes the work God has us do seems so trivial and unimportant that we wonder if he could possibly care about it. But he does. He cares about it for our sakes because he wants us and our children to be part of his everlasting Church.
Very few of the world’s people will care if your child has a successful trip to the bathroom, sleeps through the night, or enjoys an outing with you to the mall without having a meltdown. But God cares. And God wants you to enjoy the small blessings of caring for your child, because in his eyes those blessings are not small at all. They are all a part of his gracious work in building us into his eternal Church, a Church that, God-willing, will one day include people who currently do not believe in him.
Maybe you have asked God for big things that he has not granted. No matter. Enjoy the small victories that God gives you today with your child. Remember that none of these things are small in his sight. And ask yourself: Could it be that some of the smaller blessings that God lets you experience with your child—a smile, a moment of unbridled joy—are things that God will use to open a door for you to talk about the Savior’s love with someone else?
Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, help me not be overwhelmed today. Give me the grace to see your love to me in the small things that you are doing to help my children’s growth and development. According to your will, let them become the servants of your Father that you mean them to be. And use the tasks that we are working through today to advance your kingdom. I pray in your name. Amen.
by Stephen and Margo Schmidt