Little Things

I’m riding with my mom and dad in a crowded cable car suspended 900 feet in the air. We’re swaying gently in the breeze, but it isn’t exactly comforting. I mean, “Rock-a-Bye Baby” does not have a happy ending.

The cable creaks. The wind huffs. The car jitters.

Worst time ever for a blood-curdling scream.

So I probably shouldn’t have done that.

Granted, I’m only two years old.

Still.

My parents, like the rest of the riders, take two horrible seconds to decide whether death by plummeting is immanent.

It’s not.

So everyone turns their mortified gaze to the hideous shrieker.

Lil’ ole me.

“What’s wrong?” Mom sounds like she doesn’t know whether to comfort me or spank me.

I point my sticky little finger at the window. “Dere’s a bug.”

A gnat, actually.

The whole car goes quiet, like everyone aboard is telepathically messaging my parents, willing them to tan my hide.

In my defense, the bug is right by my face.

Well, okay, it’s outside the glass. But still. Really close to my eyeballs.

For this I nearly sent an entire cable car of people into cardiac arrest.

I should be ashamed of myself.

Except the more I consider the fiasco, the more I’m, well…not one bit sorry.

Because little things matter.

I know, I know. There’s that saying, “Don’t sweat the small stuff,” and we shrug off the seemingly inconsequential.

But sometimes the small stuff matters most.

Jesus says, “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much” (Luke 16:10 NASB).

He’s not talking about an impossible perfectionism. He’s talking about understanding that character is built on small actions and daily choices that become habits. Those habits, in turn, become the fabric of who we are.

So what if we focus on the little things we can do today? A kind word to someone. A moment of thankfulness for God’s creation. Obedience in completing one of the many small steps in a project God has given us.

Faithfulness in the little things brings glory to God and molds us into vessels he can use for his purpose.

What about the flip side? Where does one little white lie take us? Or that rude gesture to an annoying driver on our way to work? Or the complaint we couldn’t resist voicing?

One small disobedience leads to another. And another. And then a hardened heart.

Little things.

Building into big things.

For our good or harm.

Those are gnats worth paying attention to.

Just maybe don’t scream on a cable car.

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