In the Little Things

{Originally written summer 2012} 

It was around 4 in the afternoon, and I was working with Monkey when a young lady held the door open for us to walk into the grocery store.

I had been babysitting since 9 that morning and went straight from babysitting to working with Monkey, and I still had two hours to go.

I had a headache, I wanted quiet, I wanted to be done.

And as we approached the grocery store, this young lady sped up in order to get to the door before us. But rather than going through ahead of us, she reached the door, took a step to the side, and held the door open for us to enter.

It doesn't take much to make me feel like royalty on a day like today, and that did it.

I had been talking to a friend earlier about this very fact. It's so easy to get caught up in the daily up and down of living life and surviving each moment. And inside of all of us, I believe, there is a longing to grasp something more grand and significant and... dare I say, radical?... than the seeming dullness of everyday. But we don't pursue anything because it seems unreachable, and to clash with the everyday and with the image of God that we've sometimes grown up with.

After all, dreams and aspirations are just that... dreams and aspirations. They don't turn into anything concrete until action is taken upon them. And it's that step that many people miss, and that I have so much trouble working on. Because it's so easy to let life slip by. It's so much more comfortable, safe, and known than that space where all is given to Him and we move in paths not of our own making.

It starts with the little things, and in that day when I was tired beyond belief and weariness was setting in, one action from a young lady made my day that much brighter. What little opportunities constantly surround us that remain undone?

That compliment that was never given {After all, you didn't know them!}, that good morning that was never said {It was just the cashier, it doesn't matter}, that extra attention never given to a little child {I only know them from church, it's not my kid!}, that door not held open {That would've been so weird!}, that extra act of service never completed {Okay, I'm sure that would've been awkward...}, that money never gifted to that person in need {I tithe... do I need to do anymore?}, that assistance never given (although you weren't doing anything else useful) to that person in need {I saw the request on Swap 'n Buy, how strange would that have been!}...

We have so many excuses. And I don't know where you're coming from or what your day looks like, but I know that I have been challenged by the things that others have done for me. I think sometimes, we're disillusioned by thinking that the world owes us something.

It doesn't.

Go out and give.

Do something.

Live your life.

Change someone else's.