“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” (Luke 16:10)
Right before Christmas last year, my husband suffered his first-ever kidney stone. They run in his family, and it was just a matter of time before he experienced his first one. When he was little, my husband remembered seeing his own father, the man he looked up to most throughout his childhood, writhing in pain on the floor as he endured the agony of a kidney stone at a similar age.
My husband said having a kidney stone was the worst pain he has ever encountered. Not yet knowing what passing a kidney stone felt like, a myriad of other life-threatening issues initially rushed through our minds due to the level of physical discomfort he encountered.
The average kidney stone is 4mm in size.
The size of a grain of sand.
How can something so small bring a grown man to his knees?
It is often the smallest things in life that blindside us.
One word spoken hastily that damaged a relationship.
One moment of curiosity that opened the door to addiction.
One moment of weakness that resulted in an affair.
One tiny cancer cell that grew and multiplied.
As humans, we tend to navigate life somewhat prepared for the larger and expected events to come our way.
Rows and rows of vehicles waiting to get through a traffic delay.
Sicknesses making rounds through a household during cold and flu season.
The next international conflict. The next natural disaster. The next round of layoffs during an economic recession.
But we are not expecting nor are we prepared for something so small to derail us.
Likewise, the smallest of things have the mightiest impacts in the spiritual realm.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” (Matthew 13:31-32)
“Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20-21)
“Although (ships) are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” (James 3:4-6)
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)
God takes the small things seriously.
After the death and resurrection of Jesus, a small group of disciples carried the Good News throughout the nations, multiplying the number of believers.
A human wrestling with sorrow, fear, and doubt only needs faith the size of a mustard seed to receive a light of hope.
The tongue, although it is small, can either bring prosperity or hardships to our lives based on the words we speak to others.
The path of the worldly is wide, making it appealing for all to traverse. But the path that leads to eternal life is narrow and challenging to stay focused on.
As we enter a new year, may we be ever mindful of the little things.
For something so small can either bring us death, or it can bring us life.
“A small leak will sink a great ship.” – Benjamin Franklin
“The older I get, the more I’m conscious of ways very small things can make a change in the world. Tiny little things, but the world is made up of tiny matters, isn’t it?” – Sandra Cisneros