Small Shells, Big Lessons
"Who despises the day of small things?" Zechariah 4:10 (NIV)
One of my favorite memories from our recent beach vacation centers around our four-year old granddaughter Caroline. For days before we left on our family vacation, Caroline would ask, "Mia, are we going to hunt sea shells?" Hunting seashells is one of Caroline's favorite beach activities. It's one of mine too, but Caroline and I have very different approaches to finding seashells. I tend to walk quickly along the surf looking for the largest, most perfect, prettiest, most unusual seashell that I can find. The trouble is that almost everyone else walking along the beach wants the same thing. Unless there's a big storm or hurricane, the pickings are usually pretty slim. Caroline, on the other hand, makes seashell hunting a new art form. No shell is too small, too broken, too ugly, or too imperfect to be added to her collection. She also doesn't have to venture very far beyond our beach tent to find a veritable gold mine of seashells. And each one is accompanied by an "Oooohhhh! and "Ahhhhh" or " Mia, look at the this one!"
We're different in another way too. I prefer to look for shells quickly, fill up our pail quickly, and get our task accomplished quickly. My operative word is "quickly." Caroline is just the opposite. She enjoys the entire seashell process. Caroline seldom tires or gets bored with her hunting. She's happy, not only doing it, but also doing it with the people she loves. Perhaps the biggest way we're different, however, lies in the way we measure our success. A double handful of tiny seashells brings as much joy and wonder to Caroline as a gallon bucket of large ones. All seashells, large and small, are welcomed & valuable to Caroline.
Days later as I reflect on the memories of our time together, two words, "joy" and "wonder," best describe our seashell hunts. Caroline found joy and experienced wonder in our actual "seek and find" mission.
God has challenged me with Caroline's example over the last two weeks as I daily come to His Word. I need to learn from her patience and perseverance not to rush to the final product: the checked box for "daily quiet time" or Bible study lesson completed; prayers prayed; or Bible Bits written. I need not despise or even under value the "day of small things." There can be as much joy in discovering just a single word or phrase from God's Word as from reading through an entire Bible chapter or book. And I certainly don't want to ever lose my wonder over His Word.
Just this week as I was putting the finishing touches on a Bible study for the book of Acts, God reminded of the value of small treasures. Months of study were captured as I read Luke's closing words in Acts 28:30-31: "And (Paul) stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered." (Italics mine) The last word in the book of Acts is "unhindered." And "unhindered" is a good word, not just to summarize Acts as a book, but also for us as Christians living in today's culture. Dr. Kevin DeYoung writes, "The Gospel will be threatened but never silenced."
Just one word: "unhindered." But, oh, what an important and much needed truth! The Gospel is guaranteed by Jesus Christ himself.
Wherever we are today, let's not despise our own days of "small things." God can use all things: boring jobs, tedious days, sunsets, seashells and four-year olds to teach us timeless truths from His unhindered Word.