#fireplace: don't despise the little things

I had a strange dream on Tuesday night.

I’m not sure what to make of it (at least what I remember of it), but the main takeaway that’s sticking in my brain right now are the words don’t despise the little things. It had some weird connection to Corinthians (in my dream at least) but I don’t remember what. Maybe I’ll have to go read Corinthians to find out. I don’t even know if it’s 1st or 2nd Corinthians. Google suggests “Start Small, End Big” - Zechariah 4:10 and 2 Corinthians 3: 4-6 as well as this - 1 Corinthians 1:27-29.

Actually 1 Cor 27-31 is really a good passage - 

For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of  the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and the righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord."

Don't despise the little things.
It's a two-pronged admonishment.

Don't despise the little ones, the ones you think are lesser than you, the ones who are not as articulate, the ones who struggle with their words, with their expressions, with their thoughts. Because I do. All the time. Because words are my playground and my battlefield. They are where I find comfort, and where I find fault. And sometimes the littlest of things - a wrong word, an awkward sentence, strange phrasing, grammatical errors - makes me discount the message because, well, you can't even say it right.
It's intellectual pride.
Which is funny, coming from one who often refuses to think, really, because it's too much effort.

Don't despise the little things, the things you've done, the things you've tried to do, the things you thought you failed at, the things that you thought no one saw or noticed. Because I do. All the time. And yet it's sometimes these little things that prove to you over and over again that this was what you were made for, this was what brought meaning to your life (oh, how you agonised!). And maybe, just maybe, one of these little things touched someone, impacted someone, and it wasn't a waste of time.
It's just that you didn't know it.

Sometimes I think that I'm too small.
But really, what I mean is that my pride is too big. It's getting in the way of the actual doing, because in doing, you might fail, and that might break you.

Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.
Because it's not by might nor by power, but by His Spirit that we accomplish anything worthwhile at all.