Don't Despise the Day of Small Things

I finally got my husband Arvo to go kayak with me, along with Asherel and her friend Josh. Arvo always has some good reason not to accompany us, but this time he did. It all started splendidly! We were docked at a sandbar, swimming and enjoying the lovely view of the shore line decked with herons amidst the reeds. None of us had noticed the kayak drain plug was gone and that the kayak was like a giant sponge, soaking a river-full of water within its hull.

The kids were playing on the kayak, jumping off of it into the river while we "responsible" adults blithely assumed all was well. Then it was time to go, and we noticed the kayak was nearly submerged and weighed a ton. Between Josh and my husband, the kayak was wrestled onto the sandbar and the two of them managed to upend it and drain the water out of the drain hole. That is when we noticed, the drain plug was nowhere to be found. The kayak was drained of half a river weight of water, and then my husband raced as fast as he could back to the dock, hoping he was faster than the water seeping back in through the uncovered drain hole.

I think it might be a long time before I can convince him to go kayaking with me again.

I am never in danger in my kayak. I have my cell phone, and the number of the nearby marina. They have plenty of boats that could come rescue if need be. Still, it was MOST inconvenient to be missing the drain plug, particularly since this particular kayak was very old with a somewhat unusual drain plug size. I would hate to scrap a kayak for want of a $3 drain plug!

Sometimes the smallest things can shipwreck an adventure. The little things matter and yet how many times have you heard someone say, "Don't sweat the little things"? I hate that advice. I always have. Life is made up of little things! If you don't sweat the little things, quite often the big things will collapse too.

I think that is why God tells us "do not despise the day of small things." Small things have a way of adding up. The Israelites were not the "chosen people" of God because they were populous, but indeed were a very small and insignificant race. Jesus was not born in an influential and mighty city, but in the tiny town of Bethlehem. And Jesus did not arrive as a mighty king, bedecked in splendor and majesty, but as a tiny baby in a tiny manger. Yet out of all those "small things", the hope of the entire world's salvation rests.

When we got home, we searched on line until finally we found the proper drain plug. It was such a little thing. We ordered two.

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“Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel?” (Zechariah 4:10 NIV)

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