My husband and I eloped when we married. Both living on our own for a while, we had all the necessary items to begin housekeeping and since no one came to our wedding-except for the couple who stood up with us-or even knew about our forthcoming nuptials, there were no gifts wrapped in silver foil and secured by white bows to be opened.
Except one. My husband's brother and sister-in-law sent a matching set of heart-shaped wall sconces with tulip-shaped globes resting in the hooked arm of each, along with a set of his and hers white towels with blue lettering.
I loved those gifts. They weren't my most prized possession, but they were a symbol of our truly having married...and that someone was actually excited about our union.
In time the white towels with blue lettering were demoted to "work rags." But the brass wall sconces moved with us from house to house, sometimes gracing the wall behind our bed and other times the living room. When we moved into our current home, I placed them on either side of a large painting in our foyer.
One December morning as I prepared our home for our annual Christmas party, I took the globes out of the sconces to wash them in the warm, sudsy water waiting in the kitchen sink. As soon as one of the globes hit the water, it shattered. I couldn't understand the physics of what happened and I honestly didn't care. All I knew was that something very special to me was now ruined. "Oh, Lord!" I sobbed like a spoiled child. "How could this have happened? Don't you know how much I love these silly sconces?"
I dried my eyes and finished my preparations for the party, including salvaging the sconces by taking out the other globes and replacing them with tapered candles. That evening, our guests arrived one by one. The house, scented with apples and cinnamon, glowed with candlelight and was filled with holiday music, conversation, and laughter. I had all but forgotten my sadness...until the doorbell rang. When I opened it, there stood our friend Sue, holding a small bag in her hand.
"Merry Christmas," she said, handing it to me. "Be careful. It's breakable."
I took the gift bag from her and peered inside. There, nestled in tissue paper, was a lovely tulip shaped vase about six inches high. One look and I knew it was a priceless antique. "It was my grandmother's," Sue explained.
"I can't accept this," I said, shaking my head.
"Oh, but you must," she argued. "You see, this morning while I was in prayer God said to me, 'Sue...Eva Marie will need this tonight. Take it to her.' But, don't worry. My grandmother left me quite a few of these, and even if she hadn't, God wants you to have it. So, I do, too."
God Cares About the Little Things
I have a friend who literally takes every little thing to God in prayer. We can be chatting along about something and suddenly she is no longer speaking with me, but to our Heavenly Father. I marvel at her prayer life...and her knowledge and understanding that God really does care about the little things in life.
Jesus said:
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
If Jesus had not answered my cries over a wall sconce, would it have meant that He didn't care about me? Certainly not! But for me, it was a sweet reminder that the little things in life-especially those things which remind me of the covenant of my marriage-are important to Him, too. Because I'm important to Him! He sees to it that I'm clothed and fed...and even when I'm in the midst of what we in the South call a "hissy fit," He is watching over me, ready to prove His devotion while waiting for me to turn toward His heart rather than focusing on my oft-times selfish ways.
Study Questions
1. What do you consider to be your most prized possession? How did you receive it?
2. Have you ever been surprised by God's love by His moving through others? Talk (or journal) about it.
3. How often do you take the "little things" to God?
Award-winning national speaker, Eva Marie Everson is the author of Shadow of Dreams, Summon the Shadows and the recently released and highly anticipated Shadows of Light (Barbour Publishing). She can be contacted for comments or for speaking engagement bookings at www.EvaMarieEverson.com
