10 octubre 2006

Little things

NOTE: do not think that because the following is not original to my person i will somehow excuse you for not reading it. i would not post this in its entirety if i did not think it should be read... entirely. i would have written it, had i the depth of character and experience to speak it truly... may God have mercy on me.

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Little Things: Elisabeth Eliot


When we were growing up our parents taught us, by
both word and example, to pay attention to little
things. If you do a thing at all, do it
thoroughly: make the sheets really smooth on the
bed, sweep all the comers and move all the chairs
when you sweep the kitchen, roll the toothpaste
tube neatly and put the cap back on, clean the
hair out of your brush each time you use it, hang
your towel straight on the rod, fold your napkin
and put it into the silver ring before you leave
the table, never wet your finger when you turn
pages. They kept promises made to us as
faithfully as they kept those made to adults.
They taught us to do the same.

You didn't accept an invitation to a party and
then not turn up, or agree to help with the
Vacation Bible School and back out because a more
interesting activity presented itself. The only
financial debt my parents ever incurred was a
mortgage on a house, which my father explained
was in a special class because it was real estate
which would always have value.

When I went to boarding school the same
principles I had been taught at home were
emphasized. There was a hallway with small
oriental rugs which we called "Character Hall"
because the headmistress, Mrs. DuBose, could look
down that hall from the armchair where she sat in
the lobby and spot any student who kicked up the
comer of a rug and did not replace it. She would
call out to correct him, "It's those tiny little
things in your life which will crack you up when
you get out of this school!" In the little things
our character was revealed. Our response would
make or break us.
"Don't go around with a Bible
under your arm if you didn't sweep under the
bed," she said, for she would have no pious talk
coming out of a messy room.


"Great thoughts go best with common duties.
Whatever therefore may be your office regard it
as a fragment in an immeasurable ministry of
love" (Bishop Brooke Foss Westcott, b. 1825).

It is not easy to find children or adults who are
dependable, careful, thorough, and faithful. So
many lives seem honeycombed with small failures,
neglectful of the little things that make the
difference between order and chaos.
Perhaps it is
because they are so seldom taught that visible
things are signs of an invisible reality
; that
common duties may be "an immeasurable ministry of
love." The spiritual training of souls must be
inseparable from practical disciplines, as Jesus
so plainly taught;
"The man who can be trusted in
little things can be trusted in great
; the man
who is dishonest in little things will be
dishonest in great. If then you cannot be trusted
with money, that tainted thing, who will trust
you with genuine riches! And if you cannot be
trusted with what is not yours, who will give you
what is your very own?" (Luke 16:10-12, JB). (The
footnote to "your very own" says, "Jesus is
speaking of the most intimate Possessions a man
can have; these are spiritual.")
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misericordia. gracia. humildad. adoracion.
please.

2 Comments:

Blogger axegrinder said...

Este blog ha sido eliminado por un administrador de blog.

lunes, 16 octubre, 2006  
Blogger axegrinder said...

Este blog ha sido eliminado por un administrador de blog.

lunes, 16 octubre, 2006  

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