Have you ever felt like you COULD do hard things, but you're stuck in the daily monotony and have no way of getting out? As the Harris brothers aptly ask, "How do we reconcile the fact that there's a big world out there to impact for God with the fact that we're stuck at home matching socks in yet another load of laundry? What are rebelutionaries to make of all the small, seemingly insignificant things that take up so much time and energy? How do things like doing the dishes and writing lad reports...fit into 'do hard things'?" Perhaps you feel like this. Alone, forgotten, unimportant, wasting your life in a grinding schedule of nothingness! "The truth is that your life (both now and later) will require you to invest a lot of time and energy in things that aren't big and don't seem to make much of an impact. Some days they don't even make sense. Sometimes the smallest things can be the hardest things of all." Yet does God see our works for Him useless and unimportant? Not by a long shot. NOTHING we do for God's glory is a waste of our lives and it's wrong to think so. Naturally we will get discouraged because we, being human, think we know better than God what to do with our lives. While it's good and right to make some plans and work towards those plans, we have to censor our decisions through our biblical worldview, according to our convictions via the Spirit of God, and live for God with every fibre and through every aspect of the person He's creating us to be. Perhaps it won't always pay off; you might not get into the papers for making your bed. But you will have done something hard and good, and with practice, that becomes satisfaction enough.

"Habits like working hard, maintaining a positive attitude, living with self-discipline and integrity, and serving others bring benefits to our lives now AND pay enormous dividends in the future--if we do them faithfully." Huge gifts are in these small packages. Succeed at small things and God will entrust you with bigger things. As the Harris brothers state on pg. 138, small hard things are like a single push-up; they're small, yes, but they reap greater merit than meets the eye at the time. We exercise our bodies, our minds and our faith by doing hard things and doing SMALL hard things is simply toning our spiritual and physical muscles for bigger things ahead. "...[this is where we] get tripped up. We enjoy the harvest, but we don't enjoy sowing and cultivating good seed. We enjoy being fit and strong, but we don't enjoy exercise. We all want to do big and important things, but we tend to discount the equally important small things that get us there." Yet we often do not take time to realize that "being faithful in the smallest things is the way to gain, maintain, and demonstrate the strength needed to accomplish something great." Everything you do, do with all your might because your life was given to you by God Himself and He expects you to give Him the glory.

Questions for Discussion:

What are some small areas in your own life that could be improved if you tackled them like you would big things?

What is something you struggle with? Are you taking steps to overcome the battle and do that hard small things?

What can we learn from the Vikings?

What is the significance of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s words on pg. 144? How can you apply them to your life and the small hard things you do? 

May God bless you, and may His light pierce your darkness!

~PIP~

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