The Small Things

I have a Don’t Let Yourself Lie speech I give to my students. The 8^th graders have heard it two or three times now over their middle school years with me and will probably hear it again before the year ends. It usually comes up when I have an assignment that they could cheat on easily – like getting their parent’s signature on something. I point out to them the cheating opportunity so they know I know it’s there. And I point out to them that they could cheat and I would probably never know.

But they would know – and God would know – and they would be lying. And lying is a terribly destructive habit to allow yourself to fall into. Yes, this would be a somewhat inconsequential untruth, and you’d probably get away with it. But that would just make it easier to lie about bigger things later . . . and then about even bigger things . . . and I know people who have almost destroyed their lives through deception. But it starts with little perjuries. “Yes, ma’am, that’s my mother’s signature.” Do NOT let the small lies become easy. Don’t do it. Nip this in the bud.

At chapel last week, a father spoke about the importance of practicing faith. That phrase stuck with me. We tend to think of faith as mental or emotional. But James reminds us that we demonstrate our faith in our works; “faith apart from works is dead.” So, true faith is ultimately behavioral, and behavior must be practiced to be done well.

Which got me to thinking about what it looks like to practice the behavior of faith. Which brought me back to my Don’t Let Yourself Lie speech I give to my middle school students.

Because it starts with the small things, right? Yes, at some point, we will probably be required to demonstrate faith in God through something huge. Life is full of the Huge: life-threatening illnesses, cataclysmic disasters and accidents, bankruptcies and business failures, major relationship crises. The Huge is coming – you can count on it.

But we prepare for the Huge with the Small. We have the faith to deal with the major life events when they fall upon us because we practice faith in the little life events of every day.

Right now, my life is pretty good if I’m honest. But I feel like I’m always looking for the next shoe to drop, you know? I know how things go; one of these days, something bad is going to happen again.

So, what do I do to prepare for that Huge? How do I practice faith now to strengthen it for when I will need it later?

As part of my job as Secondary Team Lead at my school, I’m heading up two curriculum review committees. And y’all, I feel totally inadequate to this task. I can’t tell you why; it really shouldn’t freak me out so much. I think it’s because our families tend to have strong feelings about curriculum, as do the teachers. And we spend a lot of money on curriculum. And in general, I have a bigger admin load this year than in years past, and I’m afraid of letting something slip.

So, one of the ways I’m practicing faith right now is putting these committees in God’s hands. I do what I know to do – what I can do – and leave the results to him. I ask God to open my eyes to details I may be forgetting or problems I may be neglecting, and I trust that he’s going to do that. I’m working hard at not letting myself fret about it (as I can be wont to do), and I’m looking for the good things God is doing in the process (I’m getting to know some parents better!).

In the wide scheme of things, these committees are pretty trivial compared to trials I’ve dealt with in the past . . . and probably compared to challenges that are coming in my future.

But it’s good practice. Faith and faithfulness in the small things. Because the small things are a big deal.