Faithful in the Little Things!

John 16:10 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much." ESV

We must choose to show up in the small things. So often we fall into the trap of letting the little things in life overwhelm us to the point that we just let them slip! We do things that don’t align with our greater goals and values just because they’re small and don’t really matter! But that couldn’t be farther from the truth! The little things determine who we are!

The little things make up life

We like to think that it’s the big moments that determine who we are and what we stand for, and outwardly that may be true, but inwardly, you have almost already made the choice. The choice was made in a thousand tiny choices leading up to whatever milestone you find yourself at! Theodore Roosevelt spoke eloquently on the matter in a letter to the boys of the nation:

If he doesn’t treat his mother and sisters well, then he is a poor creature no matter what else he does; just as a man who doesn’t treat his wife well is a poor kind of citizen no matter what his other qualities may be. And, by the way, don’t ever forget to let the boy know that courtesy, politeness, and good manners must not be neglected. They are not little things, because they are used at every turn in daily life. Let the boy remember also that in addition to courage, unselfishness, and fair dealing, he must have efficiency, he must have knowledge, he must cultivate a sound body and a good mind, and train himself so that he can act with quick decision in any crisis that may arise. Mind, eye, muscle, all must be trained so that the boy can master himself, and thereby learn to master his fate.

Very sincerely yours,

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

Earlier in the letter, he discusses how can a boy become a good man who serves his community well if he is not a good boy. And in this quote you can see that he considers a boy who is unkind to his mother or sister "is a poor creature no matter what else he does; just as a man who doesn’t treat his wife well is a poor kind of citizen no matter what his other qualities may be." The way that we conduct ourselves in our everyday lives is the truest measure of what kind of man we are! While it can sometimes occur that a man when faced with a monumentous choice makes a decision which truly alters the course of his life and is the beginning of changing the kind of man that he is. It is far more common that a man, when faced with a monumentous choice, makes the choice that anyone could have guessed he would make if they knew his personal life well!

Teddy also mentions all the things that a boy must attain and train himself in. Anyone who has ever trained for anything knows that it is almost always a slog and it’s the little things that make a difference! You have to just show up to the practice, once you’re there, it’s easier to do the training, but you have to show up! And even in the training, it’s one little thing at a time! For swimming, it’s one stroke at a time, running is one step at a time, and bodybuilding is one rep at a time! The same applies to mental training! It’s a million tiny things that come together to make any large accomplishment!

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" - Lao Tzu

Captain America

One of the greatest superheroes of all time is honestly a boring character at his core. Perhaps boring is too harsh but certainly simple. Not a brooding bad boy, not a complicated ex-spy with trust issues and a long history of enemies and lovers who come up at the worst times. He doesn’t even really have any character flaws to overcome! By all means, he should be a boring character since he has almost no character arc to move through as he grows past his flaws or anything like that! And yet he is one of the most beloved characters from comics and recent movies! Because he is a paragon! He is a “Good man”, nothing else! Not a perfect soldier, not a deeply complicated character with secrets and plans. He just does what he thinks is right, he does so unapologetically, but not arrogantly!

He would never do something that goes against his values even in the small everyday areas, and everyone around him sees that and knows that about him, and sometimes they even try to use that to take advantage of him. They know that they can trust him to always do what he sees is right, regardless of the punishment, difficulty, or pressure to the contrary.

How to be faithful in the little things

Assuming that I’ve convinced you that you need to take the little things in your life a bit more seriously, the question is how! I mean that’s the problem in the first place, doing all the little things is tiring, hard, and unrewarding! Otherwise, we would all be better about them already! Well, hopefully this article has already helped! Believing that they are important will make it more rewarding to do them. And as you do them and get more in the habit of it, then they get easier and easier! Picking up momentum! But one of the main problems is that we don’t have purpose anymore! I recently stumbled across an interesting project called Telos, that’s a Greek word that means something close to ultimate purpose! Here is the link to the video that first exposed me to the concept Worried About AI?. Don’t mind the title, the video is aimed at IT workers, but the concept is so much broader!

The concept is quite simple! You write a simple document that covers your history, who you are, some of your values, some of the issues you see in the world and your mission! And you can always change this but you can also use it as a reminder to focus on doing things that actually move you ahead towards something that you really care about! That will give you passion to do the small things! Since you can always ask whether that small thing contributes to your end goal! If it does then awesome! Now it’s a valuable and enjoyable task! If not then don’t do it if you don’t want to! If you are religious then this is how you should always be living! You have God’s mission and maybe a personal mission that lines up with His will and that makes life so much simpler! In any moment you can evaluate the value of what you’re doing by asking if it advances your mission in your faith or not! If not then why are you doing it?!

I hope that I’ve encouraged you! Godspeed, and stay in the Way!