(Photo courtesy of the University of Michigan: Piezoelectric Energy Generator. Pretty small but very cool!)
I have seen the task which God has given to the sons of men with which to occupy themselves...I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime; moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor-it is the gift of God. (Ecclesiastes 3:10, 12-13)
Galadriel: Why the Halfling?
Gandalf: I do not know. Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay... small acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps it is because I am afraid... and he gives me courage. (2012, The Hobbit: Unexpected Journey)
I have always dreamed of doing big things. Great things. And important things. I don't know what those things are yet, but I am keeping my eyes peeled and my ears open. I read the news. I see libraries full of books. I hear politicians and preachers speak moving words to the masses. I take notes and dream dreams, but I don't do big things.
And if I did, it would probably make my typical Sabbath day much more difficult to justify. Sabbaths are for little things. On Saturday morning, we drove an hour to watch my oldest son play basketball. It didn't make the news. I helped our youngest sons find Walter, our elf. As a result, I wasn't nominated for man of the year. On Saturday afternoon, we had lunch with some new friends. On Saturday night, we went to the wedding of a couple of old friends. My wife officiated and spoke beautiful words to several hundred people. I was on crowd control. After the wedding, we came home and listened to an audiobook late unto the night. The world whistled and whirred without my participation.
And maybe that is okay.
After all, we ate well. We rejoiced and maybe did a little good along the way. We saw some beautiful country. We fed the chickens and enjoyed the fire and drank in all of our labor and maybe, just maybe, we realized that in those little things was the gift of God.
And maybe Gandalf was right. Maybe it is the "small everyday deeds of normal folk that keep the darkness at bay...small acts of kindness of love." Maybe this is what God has been trying to tell me the whole time. It's not the great causes of the earth that matter. It's the little matters that are great causes.
I shouldn't be surprised. After all, it seems like the modus operandi of God; An old man and a barren woman give birth to a nation. The baby adrift in a basket becomes the deliverer of a whole nation. A little boy with a rock and a slingshot slays the giant. The baby born in a two-bit town and lying in a feed trough out back is the King of the Earth.
Maybe I need to worry less about my delusions of grandeur and pay more attention to the little things that are truly grander. Maybe I should slow down enough so that I won't miss the burning bush. Maybe I need to spend more time playing Legos and shooting hoops and playing cars with the boys. Maybe the greatest cause...the best thing that I can do for the world...is that thing that the world will never know.
Maybe.
But this I know. I should spend more time holding my boys close and more time holding my wife even closer because in that small embrace, I will feel the mighty touch of God.
Church Stopping. Less doing. More being.
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