Very Big Nothings

Dropping your spoon eating ice cream on the beach; your first little league baseball game getting rained out; smudging your polish getting in your car at the salon; not getting the green lollipop; your first B; loosing the rivalry game - a never ending list of very very big nothings.

Maybe we should not sweat the small stuff, but I cannot help but notice that even small stuff comes bearing furnace like heat. Whether you are 8 or 80 life is full of unexpected disappointments and disruptions to our day (afternoon, hour, minute, second). “When life hands you lemons make lemonade,” we are told - a useful platitude on days when life also hands us sugar and a spoon, but the lemons of life don’t usually come in a punch bowl. What then?

I cannot help but laugh when I think of what my mom and dad, school teachers and discipleship leaders must have been thinking as I went on and on as a child about a B on a spelling test or the loss of a softball game and other tragedies with no shortage of tears. Now, I know that they were probably fighting back a smile and a joke about how silly I was being, but at the time I received empathy, affection, and the ear of those who loved me. They cared because I cared.

I am so grateful today that God cares about the small stuff and He is aware of how sour lemons can be. His compassion and care will never be separated from perspective and discipline, but He cares about what we care about. Oh the unspeakable benevolence and awesome abundance of our Father’s love!