The Little Things Aren't The Little Things

We all tend to get our priorities mixed up from time to time.  We focus our energy on things that are temporal instead of eternal.  We focus on things instead of people.  We focus on the physical and not the spiritual.  As a homemaker, I tend to focus on getting the laundry finished, the dishes finished, the house spotless, and dinner ready.  As a teacher, I tend to focus on teaching the material and what I can do to help each child grasp the concepts and enjoy the learning experience.  As a parent, I tend to work on behavior and daily routines.   I do this even though I know that my purpose is to make our house a home, not make it spotless.  My purpose is to prepare my children for the calling God has for them, not simply make them well-behaved.

Then, the Lord has to remind me of what is truly important.  We call them the little things, but they aren't so little.  Today, the Lord reminded me of His plan for our lives and that regardless of our day-to-day successes and failures, He can make it work together for His purposes.  Even if I forget about what is truly important, God has a way of changing my focus back to more important things.

My oldest son, Joshua, suffers from occasional migraines.  Today was one of the worst he's had in a while.  His head starts to ache.  Then he becomes sensitive to sound and light.  After that, he gets sick to his stomach and can't keep anything down.  As a parent, it is heartbreaking to watch helplessly while he suffers.  Warm showers, rest, fluids, they all help, but there is no guaranteed solution that works every time.  If he can keep an aspirin down for a few minutes that sometimes works.  Today, we tried it all, but he still suffered for quite a while, curled up in pain in his favorite reading chair.   

Later, when he was feeling better and finally able to eat his lunch, he turned to me and told me something that changed my day.  He said, "Mom, when I was sitting in my red chair,  I prayed that God would help me feel better and He did.  I'm so glad God answers my prayers."  It was so precious that I just sat there and considered all the times God has answered my prayers and thought about how I still struggle to trust Him with the big stuff sometimes.  Even Josh understands that we can trust God with our needs.

Then, he told me something that really made me stop and think.  He looked at me with his precious smile and said, "You know what, Mom?  In Heaven there won't ever be any sickness or pain; won't that be wonderful!"  We've been talking about Heaven in our Bible time during school, but it wasn't until that moment that I realized just how important it is to focus on God's purpose for our home.  I saw in his face that he really understands and appreciates the goodness of God; how He answers our prayers each day and is preparing a place for us.  Josh understands about God's goodness and that's more important than his reading level or his multiplication tables. 

Sometimes what we think is so important in our lives is not really important and what we think are the little things aren't really the little things.  An evangelist I know said it this way - What a tragedy it would be to become a great success at something God cares nothing about.  I'm so thankful for my children.  I know God gave them to me to remind me about what is truly important.