the little things

it's warming up a bit here, at least today. when i walked out the door all bundled up on my way to my german class, i was almost shocked with how warm it was. ok, maybe it would still be better to say how cold it wasn't, because it was still just under 0.

camilla, rocco's youngest daughter said she wished the cold(er) weather would come back because she hasn't had many chances to go sledding yet. it is true, the snow is melting away now, but where we have less opportunity to properly sled we are met with more to slip around just walking down the street.

when i was walking back from stammtisch monday night, i noticed something pretty cool about the slippery mush. about halfway home, the snow had more and more little rocks in it. some had probably been put out to help improve traction, but others had been slowly spread around as the days go by. i could immediatley tell the difference in how i was walking.

the snow and ice hadn't dissapeared, but with the little stones mixed in a bit i was able to walk without slipping at all.

and then, so many times before, my mind jumped the gaps of comparison as if it was trying to flip over cards in a life-sized game of memory. i almost always think of slipping and falling in a spiritual way as much as i do physically, and the same with walking. so i began to wonder what the little rocks were like. it hit me, that all the little things i have been given or had practiced over the years were my rocks. my mom taking me to church every sunday, or even more so doing stuff with us as kids that reinforced Christ's way in our daily lives. the time my dad and i went up to kansas city just a couple years ago for a weekend conference, more so the driving and talking than the event itself. the countless people who have led me through the bible and helped me build different disciplines in my life.

each one of these stone like things in my life is small, sometime insignificant, but when they apply to times that are really unsure, slippery if you will, they help build this fragile ground that kind of floats around just where it is needed to give me more stable footing.

maybe this is also a bit of what it means to be responsible in little things.

.jrs.