We had more beautiful Spring weather last week. Of course, our news and prayers are dominated by big things. I keeping hearing the acronym ‘CUB’ to describe the times we are living in, which represented COVID, Ukraine and BREXIT – three huge events that have and are taking place in our time. But then I was challenged by someone in our congregation that we need to add in ‘CC’ to create ‘CCCUB’, as Climate Change is perhaps the most critical crisis of all. So we pray about these things and they are big things.
But it can all seem a bit overwhelming, don’t you think? I have deliberately limited the amount of daily news I watch and listen to as it is so tragic and depressing – at times there’s just not enough capacity to hold any more news of atrocities. And yet, we must continue to pray for these big things and consider what we can do and be to see justice and peace in our world.
But recently I have also been encouraged by some small things which reminded me that God is interested in both the big, but also the small, ordinary things of our lives. There are lots of examples in scripture where we see God’s remarkable love for little or small things. It comes across in stories about the last, the least and the lost. It’s seen in a lost coin, in the sparrow that Jesus mentions in Matthew 10, and in Luke 13 where Jesus is seen as a hen, gathering and caring for his chicks under his wing, and many other places.
This final example is an image of God mothering and nurturing his children, which is also fitting as last weekend was Mothering Sunday. At both our churches we thanked God for those who have cared for and nurtured us in our lives and we gave out flowers and posies. The tasks of caring for those who are smaller or more vulnerable are also often ‘small’, daily, and can go unnoticed. Mothering Sunday is a chance to say that these small acts of care are seen and blessed by God and to offer a small token of gratitude.
I wonder in this world of big things and issues if we also need to be reminded and encouraged in the little, small, ordinary day to day things – from King Alfred cakes, to primroses, to Mother’s Day posies. I wonder what it might be for you? We may need to hear again the word of the prophet Zechariah, spoken to a people captivated with the big:
Do not despise the day of small things
(Zechariah 4 v 10)
God bless you and keep you safe,
Revd Paul