Maybe the Small Things Matter After All
On choosing to believe our small offerings and noticings matter when it feels like everything is chaotic and broken.
Everything is coming to life here in Indiana. Tender green has taken over our neighborhoods and trees. Every morning and evening there are choirs of birds singing, and birds busy at work swooping and filling to make more homes and space for new life. On my daily walks, I see tulips and hyacinths, new green stems sticking straight up from the dirt, and soft white and pink blossoms on branches like candy covering what only looked dead, for months. All of it grows where it’s planted, no matter whose yard or field it is: beauty rises anyway, like the best song or sermon.
It’s nothing new, and it’s all new at the same time.
At dusk last night, I watched three bunnies playing in our yard. They chased each other and hopped over one another. Seeing them play, while the sun set behind the trees, like it does every night, filled me with delight. I stared out the window at them until I couldn’t see them anymore. In that moment, every part of me needed to set my eyes on the story our backyard was telling, instead of on the newsfeed of current events as told from my phone screen.
Every year, my felt need for reminders of resurrection and redemption seems to grow more desperate, and this year, I feel it on a whole new level. I’ve been broken-hearted over the state of my country. I’ve been angry and anxious over so many things. I’m weary and flabbergasted multiple times a day, and while it’s important to me to stay informed, the non-stop information can curdle my insides and my view of everything.
But last Friday, Good Friday, I spoke to a room full of people and told them that their sorrow matters. I reminded people and myself, that though Jesus did indeed rise again, Jesus also bent low in the dirt, desperate for another way, so crushed with sorrow he thought he could die from it. It’s significant that Jesus knows what it feels like to feel so sad you could die and so sad that all you see, wherever you look, is sadness, sorrow, desperate circumstances, and no sign of hope.
Jesus, hope of all hope, knows what it’s like to feel hopeless.
After my talk, a woman came up with tears in her eyes to tell me how she needed to hear that. She needed the reminder that our risen King of kings is also a king of sorrow. I told her how deeply I needed it too.
It’s post-Easter Sunday, but I think it’s appropriate to sit in the story for as long as we need to. I’ve been letting my soul soak into the stories I believe in and hold fast to, from the last supper to the morning when the women found Jesus alive again, and I need it all on repeat these days. Somehow, the birds and the flowers and trees and bunnies at dusk all remind me of it too: from the ache of darkness and winter and night, to the fullness of life in each new sunrise, there’s an unstoppable cycle of mercy and mending at work.
A few short minutes after I talked to the woman I met after speaking on Friday, I wanted to brush it off, because in light of everything and each new headline, the small things can feel like nothing.
The Holy Spirit immediately brought to mind all the small, or seemingly less shiny and important things from Jesus’ day, that Jesus emphasized as important, and how they were no less valuable or impactful when it comes to his kingdom come.
Mustard seeds. Little children. A boy’s few fish and loaves. Nazareth. Washing dirty feet.
So, if you are feeling overwhelmed and afraid, angry and anxious, broken-hearted and weary, know that the small things really do matter in this time and always.
One soul offered hope and with-ness, matters. Going for a rage-walk in response to the world, and what’s happening in our nation right now, to tend to and offer release to your feelings , matters. One life reminded that they’re loved and valuable, matters. Sharing the truth about what’s happening to fellow image-bearers and neighbors, matters. One good story told, matters. Saying Christian Nationalism is wrong and against the way of Jesus, out loud, matters. Reading your kids a story that affirms the value and belovedness of ALL people, matters. Planting one seed in your garden, matters. Writing letters or making phone calls to fight for the dignity and rights of others, matters. Checking in on a friend or neighbor, matters.
Noticing the bunnies playing, and what delights your soul, matters.
A Book Giveaway
Speaking of books and good stories for our kids and the kid in us, and how they matter, this new book by Helen Lee, has been a delight to read with my youngest and, I’m giving a copy away to one of you!
To enter, re-share this post right here on Substack (or on social media) and tag me wherever you re-share so I can count your entry. If you don’t use Substack or social media, and would like to share another way (like text or email), just let me know you did in the comments on this post, and I’ll count it. Each share (in a new place) will be counted as an entry!
The giveaway closes on May 6, 2025 at 12am. I’ll announce the winner in the comments here.
If you don’t want to mess with the giveaway or wait, you can pre-order the book for you or someone you love (or both!) here.
Helen Lee is a writer, leader, and human whose work and life inspire me, and I’ve loved the artwork of Shin Maeng for a long time now (I have a prints and a t-shirt) - and with this book, we get to support and enjoy the work and heart of both of these wonderful creatives.
The Work of Welcome
If you need a place for guidance and easy action steps for creating spaces of welcome, We Choose Welcome has been helpful for me. From information, to easy ways to advocate, use your voice, and support those who need it most right now, they provide simple ways to learn and take action on national and state level issues.
They have a number of helpful free guides, and even have this simple guide for parents to use as they teach their kids what it means to be kids who welcome.
If you are a parent like me, I’m sure you have experienced your own kids’ reactions to what they hear at school about current policies and what’s happening to their friends.
A year ago, before the current administration was in place, my daughter had a few friends over. I was listening to them talk at our kitchen table while prepping some snacks for them, and I was so shaken by their conversation. They were eight and nine years old then. One of them brought up the then upcoming election, and how her parents weren’t citizens and wouldn’t be able to vote. She wondered what it would be like for her family, depending on the results. All of the girls had opinions about politics and had a whole conversation about it all. Our kids are talking about these things with one another, whether we talk to them about it or not. The way we talk to them or avoid it impacts their view and their friendships, now more than ever.
I think about that conversation I overhead almost every day in our current reality now.
Kids learning to be kids who welcome, matters, and it’s okay if you and I are learning all of this with them for the first time or in new ways.
Though Good Friday, Silent Saturday, and Easter Sunday has passed on our calendars, here’s a blessing for those of you, who perhaps, like me, need a little more time with it all:
May you find Jesus with you in the dark while everyone else sleeps and morning light feels miles away.
May you find Jesus the next day when life goes on and you are so weary from the night and the eerie brightness of another day, despite everything.
May finding Jesus weeping with you on Friday and Saturday, be what holds you and keeps you as you wait for redemption.
May the reality of our Savior of love and sorrow keep your heart awake to every mini resurrection story yet to come and on its way.
Grateful and shalomsick,
Resurrection reminds us there is only victory and love through Christ who gives us strength. We can put our trust in the result of the stone being rolled away by a Savior who faced the torture, cruelty, and hate. He knows the pain of all of that destruction and attempts to degrade his spirit. The world can attempt to dismantle the requirement of loving our neighbor, but sacrificial love through CHRIST wins. Loving others will always allow us to serve Jesus. Spreading lies, hate, otherness, and a lack of care of others is not the fruit of the Spirit. When we serve Jesus through loving well, the heart is ripe to receive God's grace.
I love your writing. It is so beautiful and tender and touches my heart.