Is it not small?

The Yard Boy (also known as my husband) was pretty pleased with the looks of the yard as I returned from a month away, welcoming our newest grandchild. The late daffodils were still blooming, as were a few of the crocuses. The grass was greening up, and he had mown it twice already.

He knew I was worried about what the flower beds would look like after not being worked in for such a long time. He was happy that the weeds were still very small and that the flowers were still visible.

From an entirely different perspective, I perceived disaster. Sure, the weeds were only an inch high; but there were millions of them! Working feverishly…well, as feverishly as a middle-aged lady can work…for the next week was not enough.

As the temperatures climbed from the thirties into the eighties, the weeds climbed with a similarly alarming speed. Now they are a foot high, and covering up the precious plants faster than I can knock them down. One iris and several verbenas have already felt the wrath of my hasty, blind weeding. The casualties are likely to climb, as we find it harder to see the good plants behind the burgeoning weed cover.

“Is it not small?” Lot said of Zoar, as he was told to flee Sodom on the eve of its destruction (Genesis 19:20). It turned out that Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar when he got there.

Maybe it didn’t seem as small by then, after seeing the wrath of the Lord and losing his own wife when she disobeyed the angel. Lot became a hermit, living in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters. As a result, two nations came into being that became enemies of the nation of Israel.

Size is irrelevant when there is a real danger. Lot may have perceived danger in Zoar when there was none. My Yard Boy perceived no danger in small weeds, but the danger became manifest quite rapidly.

We may think that small sins are not a danger. “I can handle this much,” we might foolishly say to ourselves.

It is only when the weeds of sin and heartache engulf that which we hold dear that we see the error in assigning false innocence to small sins.

The tiny chickweed and henbit sprouts seemed fairly harmless, until they overpowered the flower beds, in the same way that our habits and indulgences seem harmless until they grow.

On the other hand, good things come in small packages!

“And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12, NASB).

That “still small voice” was the voice of God, and it reminded Elijah that there was work to be done. God then sent him to mentor a new prophet, Elisha.

It was a big job, but couched in a small voice.

Don’t discount the small things. They can have massive importance, for our good or for our downfall.

–Christine (Tina) Berglund @ www.forthright.net