Appreciating the Little Things

When Paul describes the fall of Man in Romans 1, he lists one of the early causes in the descent. "Even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened." (Rom 1:21) They failed to "give thanks." I think it's an ongoing problem, in fact. Gratitude is still scarce today, even among believers.

We might recognize the big things. We are grateful for mothers on Mothers Day and even (sometimes) fathers on Fathers Day. (I say "sometimes" because it's interesting how many Mothers Day sermons are "Mothers, we appreciate you" while Fathers Day sermons are "Fathers, you have to do better.") We might appreciate a good spouse in a world where it seems like good spouses aren't that common. A gift on an occasion like a birthday or Christmas is pretty easy to recognize and be grateful for. But so much of the every day is missed.

I've become aware how this whole virus event has highlighted so many of those little things to us -- those things we take for granted. They're always there and we don't really pay a lot of attention. Until now. I'm sure, for instance, you've seen the ground swell of gratitude for teachers and nurses. Now that parents are teaching their own kids at home, teachers are right up at the top of the grateful list. And with everyday medical folks now working the frontlines of this pandemic, we are more grateful than ever for them.

I've thought of more, too. My wife and I did a drive-thru dinner and I found I was so grateful for the behind-the-counter staff. These are bleak times and they're trying to be cheerful and helpful and I appreciated it.

One of the things we often take for granted is contact. I'm surprised at how much I miss the simple, personal, physical interaction of shaking hands or giving a hug. Were we thankful for that before? I'm in a lot of Zoom meetings both for work and much more and the like, and I've noticed how hard it is not to be able to make eye contact with people. It is very personal way to make that connection and our electronic substitute doesn't allow for it. More than once I've been in a store wearing the required mask and I've had to tell staff or customers, "I'm smiling in here" because they can't see facial expressions when they can't see your face. And now I'm very grateful for facial expressions.

This would be an incredibly long entry if I continued the list. The absence of so many things we have always taken for granted has highlighted for me that there are so many things we have always taken for granted, meaning that I have failed to give thanks. Maybe that is a positive outcome from this event: repentance and awareness of the big and little things for which I can be thankful. Maybe you're becoming aware of these, too. If we learn to give thanks more for God's "little" gifts as well as the big ones, that would be a good thing.