Little Things

Glimmers                                                               March 25, 2020

 The Wuhan Covid-19 Corona virus is microscopic, invisible to the naked eye, but what a huge impact it has had. Little things can create big problems. Whole nations have come to a literal standstill because of this littlest of little things.

This is not new for little things. Little things have always been capable of huge, catastrophic damage. In Poor Richard’s Almanac, Ben Franklin wrote;

“For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,

For the want of the shoe the horse was lost,

For the want of the horse, the rider was lost,

For the want of the rider the battle was lost,

For the want of the battle the kingdom was lost,

And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.”

Little things. Huge damage.

The epistle of James also warns us about little things. A small spark can cause a huge,

uncontrollable, blaze. And watch out for the tongue, he says, because though it too is a little thing, it can set the whole world on fire. James 3.

Little things. Huge damage.

But just as little things can create huge problems, little things can also do great good. For example, offering to pick up things from the grocery store for an older, at-risk person so they can stay at home is a little thing. I’ve seen that posted multiple times on Facebook. A little thing can be a huge blessing. I’m sure you’ve seen other examples.

On Monday, I will confess to being weighed down with personal stuff that would take more

space to share than Glimmers will allow. I arrived at work to be greeted by a new procedure to

enter the hospital. I was screened by co-workers taking my temperature, asking screening

questions like “have you traveled out of the country recently?,” “have you been in contact with

anyone who has tested positive for Covid-19?,” “have you been eating your vegetables like your

mother taught you?” The last one was not a real question. I made that up. The whole process, in a hermetically sealed structure, performed by people in gowns, gloves and masks inevitably

raised anxiety, realized or not. But on the upside, our frozen yogurt machine in the cafeteria,

broken and out of commission for weeks, was replaced with a new, sleek, much improved

model and we were all given a little card to get a free one. A little thing, but it had a big,

smile-inducing “we understand this is hard and here is a small token of our appreciation for your rolling with it” impact.

And then, somewhere between the entrance and my office, I lost mine. A little thing with a straw that broke the camel’s back feeling. Later in the day, I voiced my dismay to one of my friends at work. He took his card out of his pocket and said, “Here, take mine. I’m not going to use it anyway.” A little thing. But it turned my whole day around.

“If you take care of the small things, the big things take care of themselves.” Emily Dickenson

Let’s do the little things well.

Social Distancing Blessings,

Jerald

(The views shared here are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect those of Parrish Healthcare)

Covid-19

March 17, 2020

It has been a long time since the last Glimmers was written. Thank you to all who have said you have missed them and have encouraged me to get back to writing them.

On the occasion of the Covid-19 Pandemic, some thoughts about this current crisis.

My daily Scripture readings on Monday, March 16, included passages from Proverbs 3 and John 6. I later read an article by James Daly on, of all places, the Fox Business website titled, “In coronavirus crisis, prayer is also a good investment.” In the article he speaks of the fear that seems to be spreading more rapidly than the virus and how prayer can be just the thing we need to tamp it down. It sounded good to me! It underscored the message from the Scripture passages I had just read.

Proverbs 3:5-6 are much loved verses that counsel us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all your ways and he will show

you which path to take.” NLT

John 6 includes the account of Jesus feeding the multitude. You probably have heard about it, but if you haven’t, here is a brief summary. A crowd followed Jesus out of town to hear him speak. After a long day, he tells his disciples to give them something to eat. Since no Publix was available, and they were likely out of chicken and hamburger meat anyway, he told his disciples to give them something to eat. Dumbfounded, they said they had only a little bit of food. “How is that supposed to feed all of these people?”  “What do you have?” Jesus asked. “Just five loaves of bread and a couple of fish.” Jesus instructed them to have the crowd, numbering in the thousands, to sit down. He then blessed the bread and fish and began to divide it up and gave some to each of them to distribute. When the twelve of them passed it out, it somehow was enough to feed everybody.

Miracle enough that was, but Jesus was not done with the lesson. When Jesus asked how much was left over, they said more than twelve baskets. So they gave and gave and gave out of their baskets and still there was enough for them when it was all said and done. The lesson?

When we share out of our basket, the basket won’t run out.

Now back to that article on prayer. James Daly recalls that crisis moment when Jesus and his twelve disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee and a sudden storm threatened to capsize the boat and sink them all. The sea was raging, the disciples were afraid and they called out to

Jesus. Jesus was worried, too. Just kidding! Jesus was asleep. Their calls awakened him and

he calmed the sea and they were amazed.

When Rembrandt, the famous Dutch artist, painted his vision of the event, strangely, he got the numbers wrong. Instead of thirteen- Jesus and the twelve disciples- there are fourteen. But it was not a mistake. Rembrant had painted himself into the story.

So my closing thoughts on this first Glimmers in great while; Let’s choose trust and not fear.

Let’s share out of our basket with those who have material needs or are in need of moral support and encouragement. I believe we’ll find, as they did, that our own baskets keep getting filled up.  Remember, we are all in this boat together. And we are not alone.

Blessings!

Jerald

P.S. I see that in Canada the phrase “Caremongering” is going viral. Let’s help it spread here, too!

(The views shared here are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect those of Parrish Healthcare)