It’s The Little Things That Matter The Most … Hello weekend readers. I am writing this on October 13 before we depart from New Mexico on the 15th. It takes us 2 days to get home—hauling a 45’ rig and me hauling the Mini-Lite which is only 21’—thank God!

This week has been so packed—everyone wants their “last hurrah” at Abiquiu Campground. We have had little sleep and one week felt like 2 weeks! Yesterday was a mess, the website for Rec.gov had literally gone to sleep, taking out our Wi-Fi as well. Campers were upset, not at us, but you feel their consternation. One of our long-coming campers shared his story about when little things blow up to be big things. He worked his entire life at Prudential Insurance company—from 1973 to 2015! He cheered me up and said “Cyndy, maybe you should send this story to the Rec.gov website” I laughed and so did he. So, here’s the story…

In my time at Prudential clerical oops rarely happened. We were diligent in doing our best. Yet, sometimes stuff happens. The history of this oops comes from 1978, when Prudential loaned $160 million to United States Lines shipping firm. As part of the deal, our company got a lien on eight ships. Then, in 1986, U.S. Lines went into bankruptcy, selling off assets. Prudential said it was owed nearly $93 million—the value of the lien from the ship sales—or so we thought. I was one of five that looked through the lien documents and we found a problem and it wasn’t good. We disclosed that someone (I knew) had omitted three little zeros meaning the company had only $92,885 instead of $92,885,000. I can tell you that a pin dropped on the floor that day and everyone heard it. We did correct the error but the loss of millions were gone. As a CPA, this wounded my heart. I knew this wasn’t done on purpose, but oh what a bad error. To this day I call it “a simple clerical error that turned into the most expensive typo of all in my time.”

Listening to his story made me think our troubling website was not in that league of errors so yes, he did make my day. Last night when we came down to our rig and closed out our time, his story kept poking at my heart and my mind. Of course—I needed to share this in a devotion. I asked for his permission and he said “go ahead, I can’t wait to see it” – he gets my devotions—a lot of campers are on my list. That’s how I get good stories!

What matters to us today in our spiritual life? I think the little things DO matter more than we realize. I am not talking about salvation—we have that settled because of Jesus. But it’s what happens in our daily faith walk which is about growing in the grace from God and working on a deeper relationship with God. Like the older contemporary praise song, Draw Me Close To You, that has to be our objective in our faith walk. But in our society we tend to toss out the small things and get caught up in the big things. I find that for myself in these contentious times of our election. I need to get the anger out of my own heart and mind and focus on what God wants me to do. But wow—isn’t it so easy to go right back to this stuff? My nightly prayer is “God make me kind even when others are not.” It’s a tough see-saw.

In Micah 6:8—a beloved verse used all over the world, is what we need to imprint in our minds because this verse is God telling us what we need for our daily faith walk. I spent about an hour looking it up in a variety of translations, but the Message shouted to me: “But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, and don’t take yourself too seriously—take God seriously.”

Micah was so right. We need to take God seriously; to focus on the small things instead of the rat-race world around us that trips us up, pierces our hearts and makes us angry if not downright contentious. That verse also pushes us to find—every day—ways to show God’s love, mercy and grace. It’s in those small acts that make the difference for our body, soul, heart and mind, and for others as well. Remember: small things matter! AMEN.