Little things Mean a Lot
By Hal Polk, BraceBeagling 
March 16, 2003

We were all shocked to learn that the space shuttle Columbia had disintegrated on its return to Earth’s atmosphere. It was hard to tear ourselves away from the radio or TV as those reports came in. Gradually it became apparent that a great disaster had occurred. Over and over we watched those long white streaks in the sky and heard of the explosions and saw those now familiar faces.

Now we follow news of the progress made in collecting the pieces and learn more and more of the effort to discover what went wrong. It is not unlikely that in the end we’ll learn that this awful thing happened because of some almost insignificant event…or perhaps a series of little things that built up, like straws on the back of the proverbial camel, and caused this loss.

In life, in marriage, at work there are little things that even we as Christians can let into the equation that can have disastrous effect. We neglect the basic disciplines of the Christian faith, we take others for granted, we slip into behaviors that are contrary to our values and harmful to relationships, we drift away from expressing appreciation for others…

A few years ago a DC-10 took off from O’Hare Airport in Chicago only to turn awkwardly in the air and crash to the ground, killing all aboard. The “reverse engineering” found that a loose nut had caused an engine to falloff, resulting in the tragedy.

God calls us to be careful with life. It is faithfulness in the little things that becomes faithfulness in the larger parts of life. Similarly, neglecting the minute elements of life and its relationships can result in great failures. Let’s pray for that faithfulness, for that attention to detail that produces growth to us and fullness to life.