It's the little things

published November 18, 2010

in the Stockton Sentinel, 

Stockton, Kansas

     Generally it doesn’t take much to amuse me, unless it’s early in the morning.

     One morning last week, just as I was putting the finishing touches on my face for the day, out of the corner of my eye I saw a tiny flash of light. My split-second reaction was that it was a lightning bug, but as my brain caught up with my eyes, I knew that was impossible. So what was that tiny Tinkerbell-flash of light?

     As I looked carefully (and I really had to look for it!), suspended from a nearly invisible single, silky strand of web was a gold sparkle. You see, our 70’s-built house still has that cottage cheese-look texture on the ceiling, and ours is the upscale variety with added sparkles. Now if you can get past the Awfulness of a spider web and get to the Awesomeness of it, then imagine a tiny gold sparkle on the end of it, and you’ll understand why this Fancy Nancy was amused… and amazed.

     The sparkle reminded me of one of my favorite quotes: “Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” I don’t suppose I’ll ever look back on the morning I spotted a gold sparkle suspended from a spider web and think it was a “big thing.” But for the moment, it certainly was a little thing that I noticed and took the time to enjoy, and at 6:30 a.m., that in itself is a big thing.

     On my bathroom wall hangs a plaque with another quote: “Begin each day with a grateful heart.” The plaque hangs directly above my bath towel, so it should be an everyday reminder. But in my want-to-go-back-to-bed-mode, I’ll admit I need to work on that grateful heart thing, especially before daylight. That morning, however, I had no problem beginning my day with a grateful heart – grateful for the lighthearted moment and grateful for the chance to be awake to witness it.

     Normally I would remove a spider web when I see it, but I left the web with the little sparkle suspended there just because it was such an awesome “little thing” to enjoy. And I needed the reminder. In fact, I was disappointed when I accidently pulled it down several days later.

     For those of us who get so caught up with ourselves and our crazy lives, just meeting our daily schedules and getting everything done that we think we need to do seems to be a big thing. But in doing so, we might miss the tiny gold sparkles of little things that are there to teach us some of life’s deepest lessons.