Several years ago a friend lent me the book “The God of Small Things” by Arundhati Roy (which, incidentally, I enjoyed) and when we later spoke about it one of us, I can’t remember which now, mistakenly called it “The Small Things of God”. This slightly more whimsical title appealled to both of us immediately and, amidst laughter, the book was instantly renamed for evermore.
It’s still a phrase that comes to mind often, despite the fact that I’ve lost touch with that friend over the years. (She lives in India now, I wonder if she ever remembers the book and our conversations about it?)
I was just looking at the blog of Without Wax and his reflections on “Celebrating Monotony”. It strikes me that the small things of God are those mundane little blessings we overlook so easily. I am seated in my warm kitchen, cup of tea at hand, almost brand new laptop beneath my fingertips, knowing that my daughter is sound asleep in her lovely bedroom down the hall, and my husband is blogging away on our pc upstairs. It’s a Friday night in Scotland in January, nothing much going on, and I’m freshly thankful for that. I wonder how many of the minute details of our lives, embroidered by God to communicate his love and care for us, pass us by without thought or thanks.
(I read this back and consider that this is a very middle-class (yikes!) western-world kind of reflection. I wonder what I would have said if I were a Christian living in poverty in a much harsher part of the world?)
I suppose the small things of God, the little blessings and graces he has furnished our world with to ease our passage through it, are in evidence everywhere. It would be a wonderful thing if I could make my way through life bearing that in mind, with a thankful heart.
What are the small things of God in evidence in your life?
2 comments
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July 24, 2009 at 3:24 am
Tim
Thanks for the post. Your “very middle-class” comment made me think of this:
“Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the LORD ‘
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.”
Proverbs 30:8-9 (NIV)
… There are time in our lives that God gives us a great peace, but their are also times in our lives that God allows us to go through storms. Our first century brothers taught us the same thing that Christ taught; to give thanks for both.
July 24, 2009 at 9:29 pm
bringonthejoy
Thanks for stopping by Tim, you’re absolutely right in your comments I think, and I appreciate your biblical knowledge in that respect too. What I have materially doesn’t mean anything, but I am thankful for it. It’s harder to be thankful in stormier times, but the same response is still the right one. I look back on this post as a message from a more settled time, and it’s good to be reminded of those things.