A man of God had a particular mission to perform. The Lord told him just what he must do, and just what he must refrain from doing. He could not go wrong if he followed instructions. The tragedy is that he strictly carried out the most difficult part, and failed in the easiest part of the assignment. It was by neglecting the details that he failed. The man faced death unflinchingly to perform his duty, and yielded to temptation in a minor matter. But is this not the very way that most of us fail? Men do the big things, the main duties of life with vigor and dispatch. If bravery is required, they are brave; if courage is needed they are courageous; but in some little matter at home or among friends, they are ill-mannered, peevish, quick tempered, disagreeable, easily provoked and hard to live with. In these things even the man of God often fails. We should learn as soon as possible that exact obedience, attention to little things, involve principles of the highest importance. We should take pride in the work we are called upon to do. The best kind of pride is that which compels us to do our very best work, even on the smallest assignments and even when nobody’s watching.
We honor and revere people who move up the ladder because of their ability to lead and/or perform great deeds or accomplish good and even great things. Many of us may not be able to do great things ourselves, but we can always do small things in a great way. Janos Arnay said that “In dreams and in love there are no impossibilities.”
I believe that is the very reason God created us the way He did. We start out as babies and learn to deal with the little things, to tie shoes, button our cloths and to hold a spoon properly as to avoid spilling. All the little things we learn first and well before we move on to the bigger and more meaningful things, the things that begin affecting others. We begin to understand how others feel about what we do and how we do them. We learn that based on their reaction to us, as we do things that make them feel good or hurt their feelings. We understand how they feel because we have felt the same way. We can all really be hurt in a major way when we do things that are very important or significant to another person such as being unfaithful. By constantly criticizing a close friend or family member you can cause major long term personality problems. We should learn how to be kind and tender with others because we learn early in life that that is how we want them to be with us. I have heard of fathers who are recognized as great men of business or in the church but at home they are impatient and even say cruel things to their wives and children. Sometimes the children adopt that same behavior with their wives and children and the cycle is repeated generation after generation.
I believe a man who can deal with little things in life with kindness and love the big things will be treated with kindness and love as well. In reality, little things become big things and that is the way God planned it, isn’t it! May we all pay attention to detail for in the detail is where the beauty is, the detail is where we all begin and if we are wise that is where life will end, in the detail. Hopefully, with honor.