The Smallest Thing

I don’t normally sit in the balcony at church. But my husband and son are streaming services for our pastor. He, the organist, and an enormous screen are at the front of the sanctuary. A scattering of people distance while wearing masks. It isn’t normal. Some weeks I wonder if it is worth the effort.

Then my son nudged me and nodded at the lights hanging from the ceiling. The one closest to us was swaying. When I asked why, he looked surprised that I didn’t know. “It’s the air from the vent.” Every time the furnace kicked on, it would blow the light and the light would swing gently forward and back.

I have to admit that I was surprised that something like the air from a vent had a visible impact on the light fixture. The one seems so solid and substantial, the other so insubstantial. And yet, the light sways.

It has made me reconsider about what is worth the effort and what is not. Even a small breath of air can cause a light to sway. What does and does not make a difference in this troubled world?

I suspect that small efforts have greater impact than we often know. Whether it is a phone call to a fellow church member or a can of food in a donation barrel, even a very smell effort causes motion in the world. That motion may have the power to sway an opinion or light up a dark day.

Whether or not we will ever know.

–SueBE

Thinking Small in the New Year

This one’s gonna be different. Don’t we tell ourselves that every year? Don’t we start out with enthusiasm, with actual, resolute resolutions that by gum we are going to follow through on? Aren’t we certain that we can cast off the shadow of the previous 365 days simply because the date on the calendar now has a new number attached to it?

Well, don’t we?

I submit that the new year is a fraud, a sham, a flim-flam, a bamboozlement. A year can’t change things. Only we can. And it’s harder to do than a simple resolution might convey. To change one’s self fundamentally requires radical thinking and aggressive discarding of old thoughts, habits, and relationships. Most of us won’t ever do it. We’re too comfortable as we are. Only the most terrible and unexpected events — natural disaster, death, fatal illness — are enough to shock us out of complacency. And then, perhaps, only temporarily.

So…what to do with 2018 and its bright, shiny promises of change and renewal? Start small. Change one way of thinking. Give yourself a mantra — “first impressions are always wrong” for instance — to nip a habit of snap judgment in the bud. Or start each morning by doing one new thing: making your bed, trying a new stretch or simply saying, “I will be open to new possibilities today.” Repeated actions have a tendency to work their ways into our lives in ways we cannot foresee.

Or take up reading a new blog regularly. Work your way one chapter at a time through the bible. Smile at people you don’t know and won’t see again. Anything that might trigger a new, green sprout of thinking, a tiny revelation, an awkward step in a new direction.

And if it all falls apart, don’t berate yourself. January first isn’t the only day for changes. You can do that on February third, April 17^th, or November 30^th. You can do it anytime. Let yourself be open to nudges and signs and questions. Sometimes that’s the most essential part of change.

If we each turn ourselves one degree, together we can make a revolution — literally and figuratively.