Little Graces
The chapter was entitled Little Graces. Mike shares his belief that "The power of goodness is found in the tiny." Also, that, "Spiritual people are about tiny things, which is the fruit of their spirituality. The spiritual life is not a life of success; it is a life of faithfulness, and it's not easy." I truly feel that he has hit on a deep truth here. I think sometimes we over-fantasize the individual works of God thinking they need to be spectacular (by our standards) to count as truly spiritual. However, every "little" act is spectacular because each one is being woven together to create God's greater purpose; one "little" faithful piece at a time. As Mike says, "Tiny living is critical to our times because the media has an insatiable hunger for big."
He concludes the chapter by saying this,
"Our tiny choices and tiny moves toward God may not seem like much. But someday you and I will stand together in the great cathedral of heaven, and up front, by Jesus, will hang the most magnificent mosaic we could ever imagine, made up of thousands and thousands of our tiny responses to God's love in our lives."
In the back of the book are discussion questions. For this chapter, after this last quote, it asks two questions.
How have you noticed God's love in your life?
What are the tiny moves toward God you've made this year?
(I'd love to hear your responses to these two questions)
For me, one of the more recent ways I've noticed God's love in my life would be through the beauty of friendships. I feel so blessed to have so many good friends that live so close. It always seem that when I have had a bad day or I need a "pick-me-up" one of my friends shows up or calls me. My friends are a constant source of encouragement, challenge, motivation, love, respect, grace, accountability, etc. Friendship is one of the greatest gifts God has given us; having relationships with one another in an effort to grow together and share the load of this world! Don't forget to remind your friends what they mean to you! (To all my friends who have helped me in the journey of my life so far, Thank you and I love you all!)
On that note, I think one of the tiny moves I've been making this past year is to make my friendships more of a priority in my life. I have also been trying to make it more of a priority to slow down my life. I want to make sure that I'm paying attention to what is going on each moment and truly enjoying it. I don't want to rush through life missing everything because I'm always thinking/worrying about the next thing instead of enjoying the current moment, here and now.
This reminds me a lot of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. She was a Carmelite nun in France. She died in 1897 when she was 24. She was super humble and knew that her way to holiness was in the small things. She once wrote: "Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love." Every little thing she did was for Jesus. Every bed made, every napkin folded. Once, one of the other sisters was fiddling with her Rosary and the little noise terribly irritated Thérèse. As she put it: "Instead of trying not to hear it, which was impossible, I set myself to listen as though it had been some delightful music, and my meditation, which was not the 'prayer of quiet,' passed in offering this music to our Lord." That's awesome. This style of little sacrifices is called the "little way." Every little thing can be for love. It's awesome. That's how the world changes.
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