Bigger is always Better...or Is It?

   Things are just bigger in Texas! We have bigger burgers, bigger hats, bigger cows, and maybe even bigger people. We look naturally to the BIGGER, thinking somehow it’s better.

   For many of us, we want to accomplish BIG things in life. We toil and strive to come out on top – to be distinguished and noticed in our field of expertise. Why throw a tiny pebble into the pond when a large boulder will make a much larger ripple effect? Have you ever tried to pick up one of those boulders? Or tried to launch it? I argue, your ability to would depend on how many smaller, “lesser” ones you’ve practiced on previously. The untrained can throw their back trying!

   The same applies to our marriage.
Multiple “small things”done to honor

our spouse throughout the day can add up to more than that large boulder ever dreamed of. It may be as simple as being proactive and buying your husband's favorite kind peanut butter before it runs out. Or maybe, filling his drawer with clean socks and his closet with freshly hanging jeans for the next work morning deposits a big "I love you". It could be as little as sitting next to him on the couch and touching his arm, scratching his back or listening with both ears as he tells of his day. These small things can truly honor our husbands. They may seem small and insignificant to me, but they make him feel loved, thought of and respected.

    These "small things" are different for each individual. The things my friend's husband appreciates may be silly to mine and vice-versa. That's where we as wives must exercise the effort to listen, observe and know what honors our man. I can either fuss about making a special effort to buy the peanut butter my husband prefers or joyfully "just do it" and watch how it lifts him up!

    I love stories of seemingly "small things" making a huge impact. To me, the Old Testament story of rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem, is one of those. Here's how it goes...

   In 586 B.C., the Jewish temple was desolated by the Babylonians. Years later many Israelites, prompted by God, yearned to leave where they had been scattered, return to Judah and begin the slow, difficult process of rebuilding the temple. The books Ezra and Nehemiah speak specifically to this account plus many others which reference it. Some people willingly worked on this remodel job, while others grumbled, and believe it or not, others were enemies from the start. They constantly tried to prevent the temple ever being finished. All this chaos led to many feeling like this work was silly – maybe even ridiculous. I’m sure you would’ve heard people say, “Why are we working on this stupid temple? It will never be finished! We shall all die here. I could be doing such bigger, more important things than working on this door frame!” They did not see the significance in the “small” task. Others, thankfully, did and believed this was God’s work. The word of the Lord came to the Prophet Zechariah and he proclaimed these words, “Who dares despise the day of small things…” (Zechariah 4:10) 

  God was ready to do great things and no "small" obedience was small in His sight. Well, God has great things in store for families, and it can begin with "small things" done in love to our spouses! All those small things MATTER. You matter. Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, you matter – to God, who put breath in your lungs, and to the people around you. 

   To be good at the big, I believe, is to be diligent and faithful in the small first. That temple was rebuilt one wall at a time, one stone at a time and finally completed in 516 B.C. Our marriages are built one day at a time, one conversation at a time, layered with stones of love and mortared with respect and trust. We must build with the same dedication to the small things as if completing the very temple of God.

   So before you throw your back out, I hope you realize, bigger doesn’t always mean better – it just has a lot more “small things” accumulated inside it!

Putting it In Our Own Words,

~Julie