Daily Encouragement: Day 246

From Handbook to Wisdom, Day 246

FAITHFULNESS IN THE LITTLE THINGS

May those who hope in You not
be ashamed because of me,
O Lord God of hosts;
may those who seek You not
be dishonored because of me,
O God of Israel.
(Psalm 69:6)

I do not want even a hint of immorality,
or any impurity, or greed in my life,
as is proper for a saint.
Nor will I give myself to obscenity, foolish talk,
or coarse joking, which are not fitting,
but rather to giving of thanks.
(Ephesians 5:3–4)

The story has been told of a bank employee who was due for a good promotion. One day at lunch the president of the bank, who happened to be standing behind the clerk in the cafeteria, saw him slip two pats of butter under his slice of bread so they wouldn’t be seen by the cashier.

That little act of dishonesty cost him his promotion. Just a few pennies’ worth of butter made the difference. The bank president reasoned that if an employee cannot be trusted in little things he cannot be trusted at all.

Our Lord taught that “he who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much” (Luke 16:10).

Our lives are tapestries that are being woven by the threads of thousands of little decisions. In the spirituality of little things, fidelity in the ordinary affairs of life can build a momentum that carries the freight of the great decisions we make.