"The Small Matters Of the Day"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

"The Small Matters Of the Day"

   

   Those of you who have been with us for awhile may recall a story I once shared with you about a dear Orange Moon sister in Christ and friend Nancy Brown.  Many years ago, Nancy responded to a message we sent out about the Lord leading us to honor Him in what I like to call "the small matters of the day."   Nancy said that one way she does this involves always placing shopping carts in their proper receptacles after she empties them, rather than simply leaving them in the parking lot.  This beautifully illustrated the Christ-led and God-honoring behavior referenced in the message.  "Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (I Corinthians 10:31).

   Over the years, I have returned many carts to their proper place in shopping center parking lots because of Nancy's example.  A particularly vivid opportunity happened the other day at a local store.  The parking lot was full, which led me to park quite a way from the entrance of the building .  When I returned to my car and unloaded my shopping basket, I looked around for a receptacle.  I didn't see one, and my initial reaction was to simply leave the basket where it stood.  "This time," I thought to myself, "the receptacle is just too far away!"  I nevertheless looked again, and spotted far off in the distance the closest repository for shopping baskets.  I left my basket where it stood and moved toward the driver's side door of my car.  Then it hit me.  "What does the Lord want me to do in this matter?  And what would Nancy do?"   

   The answers to my questions were obvious.  I rolled the basket to the far away receptacle (well, not that far away!), and returned to my car with a smile on my face and thanksgiving for the Lord and for Nancy.  I also thought about the value of Christian brothers and sisters who serve as encouraging and challenging examples in our lives.  How often we see Christ in each other, especially as we realize and remember our shared calling to reflect His glory in so many practical ways that may seem earthly, but which actually proceed from Heavenly realities resident within our hearts.  Like Nancy, so many of you who receive these messages serve such a role in my life.  I cannot tell you how many times I have been guided, encouraged, and challenged to trust and obey God because of things you have shared with me, or I have seen in the lives of those of you I have been blessed to meet face to face.  What a gift to my heart, and what an influence that strengthens me to remember and affirm the Lord in the small matters of my days.

   Relatively speaking, few obviously big things happen in our lives.  Conversely, thousands upon thousands of seemingly little things occur.  Moments matter as the Lord's abiding presence offers countless opportunities to trust and submit to Him in circumstances that may seem insignificant, but which actually teem with the possibility of glorifying the Lord Jesus.  What a life God gives to us in Christ, wherein He fills all things with His loving and involved presence.  I think about this when returning shopping baskets to their receptacles, and when so many other opportunities present themselves I might have missed where it not for the influence of fellow believers like all of you.  I am grateful, and doubtless feel what the Apostle Paul felt when he long ago offered gratitude for brothers and sisters who blessed him in the small matters of the day…

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you."

(Philippians 1:3)

Weekly Memory Verse

  Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

(I Corinthians 10:31)

  

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