Some days faithfulness is in the little ways of life.
You might be beaten down hard, tired or weary or over it all, but before you give up I want to take your head in my hands and tell you something true: there is hope in the little ways of life.
Oftentimes we make faith out to be some big, grand, crazy epic show, and some days it may show up as such. Your faith may come wrapped in shiny wrapping paper with a big red bow on top, it may be dancing and singing and throwing glitter both this way and that.
Or it may be soft. Small. A whisper.
I've sat in a lot of chairs, been to a lot of churches where the things of God are big. Where the people of Jesus are loud. Where the atmosphere is bright and happy and celebratory and wow. There is such beauty here, because of course God is in the expansive. Of course God is in the thunder, in the dancing and singing and joy, joy, joy.
We talk about it all the time. We sing "How Great is Our God" and tell about the miracles of Christ. My Pinterest is full of quotes proclaiming the bigness of God, and some of my favorite biblical stories are ones in which God moves in overwhelming, amazing, completely massive ways.
We like our God to be big, and indeed I think God is. Don't discount the bigness; it certainly is there. God moves in big ways, and when this happens we, as the people of God, are called to move in big ways too.
Sometimes though, God is in the small, because I can't do big, overwhelming, awesome, epic things every single moment of every single day.
On the days when I just want to sleep because I'm working way too late.
On the days when I just want to cry because depression is controlling my mind.
On the days when I'm a single mom struggling to make ends meet.
On the days when I'm a hurting man, and I'm homeless, hungry, and cold.
On the days when comparing myself to the other teen girls is enough to make me anorexic.
On the days when we aren't sleeping in the same room.
On the days when I miscarried, and I was so close to carrying full term.
On the days when I'm socially shunned, because I'm a strong woman or I'm a gay man or I'm not white and privileged and the list goes on and on.
On the days when these scenarios are us, how are we supposed to have energy to do big things?
In in these moments: God is in the small. God is moving still, the path of redemption that we have been set on has not ceased to exist. It looks different though than big things and loud people and wow atmospheres. Having faith is in the little ways of life, because the small acts are all that are getting us through some days.
I think sometimes being faithful means getting up and making your bed. It means wiping the tears off your face and doing what you know needs to be done for the day: that one load of laundry, that one clean floor, that dinner for your child or the caring for your pet. Maybe it's a push to simply hug your little one, but I encourage you: push, push, push. Push through for that sweet thing, because he or she needs you right now. God is moving in you. I know our society values looks over all else, that most girls today are encouraged to be pretty rather than smart, but no matter how cool preppy may seem or how much you may want to look just like them, can you promise me to do one, small thing? Promise me you'll eat, and you'll try to keep it down. It's hard, I know, but this small act is one way in which God is moving within you. You're smart and beautiful, inside and out, and your inherent beauty is not found in labels or long legs or loveliness of the exterior. Own who you are, and express it how you'd like, but hold tight to the truth that you are who you are because of your character.
Your integrity.
Your personhood.
To you who has a broken marriage, to you who lost a child, to you who are hurting because you feel alone and judged and demonized because of your body or your preferences, to you who are struggling with depression and anxiety and sicknesses of all sorts: God is still moving for you, with you, before you.
And I know it's really hard, but you are able to move, too. I think this, maybe, is what it means to be faithful. It means to keep hoping, to keep going, and to find God in the small acts of kindness and love, of perseverance and pushing through, when you really just don't want to.
When all you see is how big problems are and how overwhelming life is.
You don't really need a big, grand, God.
You need a little act of love. A small whisper of the Spirit. A simple hand to hold, an easy path to take.
I think this is the way of Jesus some days, for His "yoke is easy" His "burden is light". He is calling you forth on such a sweet path of redemption.
To keep going
To keep hoping.
To find God in the little ways of life, the small acts of faithfulness.
