the small stuff

All Saints Day turned out to be a good time. Nothing very major happened but it was one of those days where most things seemed to be working. Church felt like a good place to be and singing along with "For all the saints" was great.

The bad part at home was that we have one down with flu - the great thing was that the first thing I knew was when I heard our eldest daughter (not known for her enjoyment of her siblings - at least not all the time) telling her sick brother to get up from in front of the, fire where he had fallen asleep. It was getting too hot and threatening to singe his jacket. I stayed out of the way for a while, and listened as she helped him up and tucked him into a blanket on the couch. Then she asked me to pour some medicine and took it to him with a glass of water. A small thing but I gave her a hug!

I am learning, as life goes on, that good days are often measured in very small pieces - small kindnesses, passing thoughts and brief experiences. Our media culture tells us that we should be juiced up on some sort of high all the time - but that really is not how we are made.

Our religious experience is not all down to emotional overdrive either. I remember being cautioned when I was a child that I might not "feel" any different after absolution, but to be assured that I was different.

This lesson has stuck with me. There is that book - Dont' Sweat the Small Stuff - but I would caution not to forget it either - the small stuff has nuggets of grace all over it because the small stuff is often about the people and things which are every day to us. the small stuff gently moulds and changes us. Every day is not ecstatic, every day is not revolutionary but in the ordinariness which makes us who we are we are given gifts and God is very real.