Seeing God in Little Things

This may look like a little thimble to you, but to me, it means so much more.  The story goes back more than 30 years to when I was a little girl.  One day while visiting my grandmother she told me about this little gold thimble and said that when she died, she wanted me to have it.  I'm not sure how old I was at the time, but I never expected my sweet grandma to go to heaven when I was 11.  After she died, we stayed at my grandfather's house for awhile helping take care of things, but my little gold thimble wasn't found.  Eventually, someone found it and made sure that it made its way to me.  I treasured this little gift from my grandmother, moving it from place to place and state to state every time the Lord had a new place for us.

My 40th birthday came and was truly a difficult day.  I was exhausted emotionally and physically while working through my dear mother-in-law's recent stroke.  There was no time to celebrate that day.  For some reason, we were talking about some of the items we had from family and I decided to show my thimble to my children.  I went to the cabinet to get it out and it was gone.  I went through the whole cabinet moving things around and couldn't find it.  I was devastated and dissolved into a puddle of tears.  Just recently it came to mind and I again decided to look through the cabinet for it, thinking that it had been more than two years and maybe I had just missed it because of all that was going on at that time, but it was still gone.

My Daniel and I are getting ready to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. Last Sunday, I decided to see if I could find our guest book that has been packed away for a few years so I began unpacking our wooden chest.  When I opened the chest, there was a pile of packing paper on top of everything so I picked it up and threw it on the floor, intending to go through it to make sure that no smaller items were mixed in before discarding it.  Underneath the paper was a woolen blanket and sitting right on top was my gold thimble.  I have no idea how it got in that chest and it could have easily been mixed into that pile of paper and thrown in the trash.  Once again, I was in tears.

Matthew 6:25-30 reminds us of how much God cares for us by telling us that He feeds the birds and clothes the lilies.  In the end, it reminds us that if He takes care of the birds and the flowers, how much more will He take care of us!  This thimble is such a small thing in the grand scheme of life, but my God, in His own loving way, chose to demonstrate His care by bringing this small thing back into my life.  Once again showing that He cares even about "little things".

If God cares enough about His children to send joy in the little things, how much more did He care when He sent His only Son to come to earth to take on the sin of the whole world?  Many celebrate the birth of that Babe but never take that Gift of Salvation that He brought when He died just 33 years later.  Have you received that Gift?  You see, this world is full of good people and even religious people who have never truly accepted that Gift.  Instead, they try to earn salvation by doing good or helping others.  However, that was never God's plan.

God's plan is so simple:  1. Admit that you are a sinner and that you can't be good enough to earn heaven.  2. Accept that Jesus' blood paid the price for your sins and that salvation is only through Him.  You can simply tell God, "I know that I'm a sinner and that there is nothing I can do to earn righteousness on my own.  I know that Jesus paid the price for my sin and I in faith accept that gift and repent of my sins."  Please don't misunderstand.  These are not magical words, it's about a heart willing to accept the Gift that God has provided and to repent of the sins that we have committed.

Here are some places you can go in your Bible to learn more:
Romans 3:23
Romans 6:23
Romans 5:8
Romans 10:9-10
Ephesians 2:8-9

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Remember to take some time to enjoy the little things.