Have you ever watched an entire series of TV (think back to being at home in 2020)? Most of us can remember the first time we watched all episodes of The Office, Parks and Rec, Friends, Super Store, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, or whatever else our streaming service said we would like(not saying we have seen all these shows, but hey you get it). We spend so much time watching these characters, we start to identify with some, grow to love some, maybe even hate others.
Then, inevitably, the series finale gets here. We get emotional like we actually lost people we don’t know, who really don’t even exist. After spending so much time with these characters, we feel a real connection with them. Even though all we have been doing is watching actors, playing a role (btw this is the literal definition of the word hypocrite).
But as the series ends, we see these huge grand scenes play out, as all these character’s story arcs are wrapped up. We feel their pain, or their overwhelming happiness as the one couple finally gets married. These characters that we have been so invested in, we finally get to share in their emotions, and we desire this.
We desire it because every once in a while we feel it too. When we turn 15 and start learning to drive, or at 16 when we get to experience freedom for the first time with our own driver’s license. At 18, we are finally adults, maybe graduating school, I mean who even remembers turning 21? Then sometime later there is college, maybe there is marriage, maybe our first child, or retirement. We have these milestones, we get these overwhelming flood of emotions, and we like it.
But after that some of us get in this rut. Everyday turns into Groundhog Day and those big and grand moments are spread far and very few between. Life becomes more about stress, bills, deadlines, and adulting. We start to feel more and more empty as we no longer experience these highs.
We begin to long for those big and grand moments.
However, life isn’t built on the big and grand. In fact, if we took the average lifespan in America of 77 years that would be 28,105 days. Let’s say we have 20 big and grand days in our lifetime, that means those days only account for .0007% of the days we live. This means for every 10,000 days we are alive, we should only expect 7 of them to be big and grand moments. This means every 27 years, we should expect to have 7 big and grand days or 1 every 4 years. Not very good odds.
We have to understand, life isn’t built on the big and grand, it is built on the small and faithful. Life is built on learning from yesterday, doing better today, and building a brighter tomorrow
Life is about the family dinners every night at the table. It is about tickle fights on a Tuesday, lunch on a random Thursday. Life is about Friday night lights, or those impromptu dinner dates. Life is about those moments that are not worthy of the camera, those moments that never make it to your Instagram or Facebook feeds.
In Lamentations 3:22-23 Jeremiah is lamenting Israel’s lack of desire to turn back to God. However, even in his lament the prophet writes, “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Every morning our mercies are new, Jesus’ love never ceases. This means everyday matters, because everyday is another chance we get to get it right.
We put one foot in front of the other, we do better today than we did yesterday. We love better, we try harder, we quit one more time, we go on another fishing trip, we take the test again, we keep going without giving up. Because we remember life is about the small and faithful.
Big grand days are great, but, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-3)
Yesterday is gone, you are not promised tomorrow, live in today. The small and faithful.
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