Small Things Count

Okay, I admit it.  I've become addicted to Facebook.  I'm writing on the walls (that's leaving messages for you not-yet-Facebook-ers) of people I haven't seen or even talked to in years.  I'm catching up with former students, "meeting" their spouses and their babies.  I'm joining "I Support . . . " groups and "I'm a fan of . . . " clubs.  I'm not sending those little "free gifts" (or "water balloons" or "bouquets") to people, though.  (At least not yet.)  And I don't usually take the surveys or IQ tests (well, duh!) either.  Still, on a whim, I did take a "Find Your Spiritual Gift" quiz the other day.

Five quick questions.

Only five?  (Well, no wonder the answer was wrong.)  According to my five answers, the quizmaster said my gift is compassion.  I don't think so.  I'm the one who says that ministry would be great if you didn't have to deal with people.

Okay, just kidding.  (Well, kind of . . . at least for the most part and on most days.)  Actually it'd be awfully hard, if not downright impossible, to be part of the body of Christ without dealing with people.  In fact, I'm pretty sure -- okay, I'm positive -- that to be a healthy, fully functioning part of the body of Christ we must not only deal with people, we must deal with them in love.  Yep, we have to love them.  We get to love them!  It's not just our responsibility, it's our privilege as Kingdom people.  Papa-God invites us to partner with Him in growing the Kingdom . . . by loving those He loves -- those who are like us and those who are not.

Even the smallest gestures, done in love, have the potential to become building blocks of the Kingdom.  The smile we share with the person who checks our groceries.  The tip we give the person who delivers our pizza.  The time we spend listening to the co-worker whose spouse has walked out.  How we respond to the driver who cuts us off in traffic (especially if we have one of those fish thingies on our car) or the way we treat the colleague who always takes too long at the copy machine (or leaves it jammed).  It all counts.  It all matters.

When we filter our reactions and our responses to others through the heart of Christ, we begin to look more and more like Him.  In small things and in big things.  We become Kingdom builders.  Inside and outside.

Lord, make us ever aware that in our actions and words, large and small, we can be destroyers or we can be builders.  Let us strive to be Kingdom builders.  Amen.