It never ceases to amaze me how misaligned our beliefs can become.
Do we sometimes think that our life won’t really have meaning until we accomplish some big and public thing?
Or that what we do in family life each day somehow pales in comparison to what we or others are doing out there?
That we can’t really feel good about our day if it only amounted to rocking a sick baby or serving the people we love? That caring for ourselves must take a backseat…
It is actually the very small acts of living and giving that amount to the most meaningful and productive events in our lives!
Learning to be present in the moments we have with our loved ones, however insignificant those moments may seem, can create profound and lasting ties.
Those lasting ties can become connecting points and those connections are the number one anti-drug! In studies on the effects of something as simple as families eating dinner together, we can see that kids are less apt to use alcohol or participate in other risky behaviors when they eat evening meals with their family. Granted, planning, preparing and serving an evening meal on a regular basis is no little thing! But for many, dinner isn’t usually up there on the important-enough-for-giving-it-our-best-intentional-efforts-most-evenings scale.
So I’ll ask you, using the perspective of “the small things are really the big things,” what big, important things did you do today?
Let’s see, among other things, today I got to hold my infant granddaughter.
I got to spend time with two other grand kids and my daughter this morning for breakfast.
I got to pray with my spouse before he went to work and hear him tell God that he loves me. I got to pack his lunch, and, I got to call him just as he pulled out of the driveway and offer to run out and meet him, if he’d like to turn around and get his forgotten vitamin.
I got to go to a short, morning gathering with my parents and my brother to talk about things we’re learning.
I got to watch a short, funny cartoon with my son.
I got to write out a list of things for him to do today so that he can be busy and productive.
I got to do housework today so that I’ll be freed-up tomorrow to go the funeral of a friend.
I got to work on my brain, meaning anytime I started to default to some negative thought, I corrected myself, and brought my thoughts back to those that would benefit me.
I got to meet with my website guru and work on a new and improved site for Lioness!
And I got to write this small blog post.
All of these things were rather small.
But each of them, even though they may seem mundane or trivial have meaning to me and hopefully they’ll be meaningful to others too.
I challenge you to consider looking at your life with this life-of-meaning equation: the small things = the big things.
My love and wishes for a happy week ahead!
“The mission of Lioness at the Door is to uplift, strengthen and encourage women of all ages to magnify health, hope and happiness at home. We do so boldly, with humility and gratitude for the opportunity.”
This is a great reminder
For me too. Thanks Darli, xoxo
This is a great perspective. I have been trying to be more service oriented and at times look back and think I didn’t do so well, but I realize I tend to overlook the little things I do for my family. Today I made pancakes for breakfast, washed the bedding on my mothers bed and helped her shower and curled her hair and trimmed her nails. I finished the laundry and folded and put my husband’s clothes away. I made homemade bread, mailed a package to one of my daughters, stopped what I was doing and gave my son a ride 2 and from work….. that all sounds like I am bragging but after writing this down and thinking I didn’t go and serve a total stranger…. but I did serve my family and I did it out of love, not grudgingly, and that little bit for today was enough ?
I LOVE hearing about your service to your family Lannette! Yes, yes, this is exactly what I was hoping to convey! xo
I loved your post and all the comments. Toward evening I often say to Neil, “I feel badly that I didn’t get anything done today” and he’ll say, we’ll, what about this and this and this and that? And I’ll say, “ Oh, I forgot about that. I guess I did accomplish a few things.” It seems like the small things don’t register in my brain as important but I need to remember and appreciate those efforts.
It is so true! We somehow think our little efforts don’t count somehow…. thanks for chiming in! xo