4 Ways to be Faithful in the Little Things
In 2017, I was going through a rough patch. You can read the full story here, but basically, I wasn’t myself and I didn’t feel great.
One summer evening that year I remember driving to a town about 40 minutes away to meet up with a friend for dinner. I had the music cranked as I came over the hill on the outside of town, about a mile away from where 2 highways intersect. To get where I was supposed to go, I needed to drive straight. But if I were to take the other highway, I’d need to veer right and exit to the West.
As I looked off to the West, a glint of sun hit a semi-trailer taking the exit. I watched that semi drive West. It looked free and careless. I wonder what stories that truck driver could tell. I wonder how far West that truck was going.
Suddenly, I had this wild thought. What if I just went West, too? I wonder how far I could go. Would I take a few days in Colorado? Or would I just drive until I reach the ocean and camp out in California. I wonder what adventure awaits if I just went West instead of straight…
Friend, it took ALLLL of my willpower that day to keep driving straight. My heart wanted me to take the exit. All of my soul wanted to just escape. Drive. Travel. Run away.
You’ve heard of the fight-or-flight response, right?
Well I have some news for you: Ya girl is a FLIGHT girl. Like, hard. When things get stressful and weird and uncomfortable, I WANT TO RUN. And not just a take-a-break kind of run where I step away for a minute and collect my thoughts. I’m talking like an all-out, get-in-the-car-and-drive-as-far-as-I-possibly-can kind of run.
Obviously I’ve never acted on my feelings to fly away in these scenarios. (A. That would be ludicrous and B. I have way too awesome of a life here to run away from!) But it’s also had me digging into all the questions.
Why do I feel like running when I need to dig in? How do I stay firm and faithful in the little things right in front of me? How do I keep showing up when things get hard? How do I let God know that I can handle what I’ve already been given?
Legit questions, my friend. If you’ve ever felt the same and wondered how to stay when you want to run or quit or drive as far West as you possibly can, I hope this post can help.
So, What does it look like to be faithful in the little things?
It looks like…
Practicing consistency.
Again, as a “flight” person, consistency is one of those words that feels icky and boring to me. I’ve had to do a lot of work in this area. I’ve had to learn how to keep showing up and forging ahead in some areas of life; not because I wanted to, but because it was my duty to.
We can choose anything once. It’s continuing to choose those small things over and over and over again that shows our faithfulness.
This can fall into any category, too! Faith, finances, parenting (hello, potty training a 3 year old), making healthy choices, exercise… these are all perfect fits for practicing consistency.
In a real life example, I’ve made a promise to myself to write and publish a new blog post every week for the remainder of summer. This post right here is week 2, and already I can tell you that it’s going to be a challenge to provide quality, helpful content every week for the next 3 months. But I’ve made a promise to myself. And I want to see what happens when I take consistency seriously and not as just a “good idea.”
If we can stay consistent, even when it’s boring, and even when we don’t want to, it shows that we’re being faithful in the little things.
Also, if you’d like more info on how to stay consistent and what living a consistent life looks like, you can check out a post I wrote on this topic here.
Doing the work (even when we don’t want to).
Oof. This one gets me every time because I just want life to be easy.
Can’t I just find a shortcut so I don’t have to do the hard work that shows I’m being faithful in the little things??
Surely we’d all rather be at home binge-watching a Netflix show, or on a beach sipping mai tai’s. But that’s just not everyday life. Everyday life looks like putting in the work even when we don’t want to. It looks like following through on small acts of obedience. It looks like leading with a servant’s heart when we’d much rather take care of ourselves and not worry about the outside world, thank you very much.
Other examples of doing the work:
- Cooking dinner instead of ordering take out for the 3rd night in a row.
- Eating a salad when you’d rather have a burger.
- Getting up to exercise when you’d rather sleep in.
- Reading a second book to your 5 year old when it’s already past bedtime.
- Volunteering at school when you’d rather be home.
(And just so we’re clear. I’m cringing at all of these. I want to do exactly ZERO of the things on this list! I’m writing these just as much for myself as I am for you.)
BUT. But, sometimes God asks us to do the work, even when we don’t want to and even when it’s not pretty. (Pro tip: It’s rarely pretty!) Can we show Him that we can be faithful in the little things? I’m daring to believe that digging in and doing the work has its rewards.
Stewarding Well What We Already Have.
When we purchased our first home about 9 years ago, we were in awe of how awesome the yard looked. The people who lived here before us took great care of the landscaping and spent a lot of time weeding, preening, and sprucing up the outdoor areas of the home.
Fast forward 9 years and I have to say, A LOT of what was here when we moved in has either died or been removed. I keep saying that I don’t have time to keep up on the landscaping because I have 3 kiddos and I work and yadda, yadda, yadda… pretty much fill in the blank with any excuse you can think of.
But the truth is, I just haven’t prioritized yard work, and therefore I don’t feel like I’ve been a good steward of the gift God’s given me with our yard. I feel like it looks like a yard that someone who doesn’t do yard work would own. Ya know?😖
So here’s what I know to be true: There’s no better way to be faithful in the little things than to steward well what we already have.
Now would be a great time to do a self-check. How are you doing with finances, family life, or even time management? Are you using your time/energy/gifts for good? Are you using the tools you have on hand to further yourself, your community, or your little corner of the world?
I know I have some work to do in this area! (Starting with a yard that needs some TLC.)
Being Brave!
While part of the equation is showing up consistently in the day to day-ness of life, another part looks like taking a leap of faith. Sometimes being faithful with the little things looks like being brave and taking a risk.
It looks like jumping when God says jump. It looks like investing what you own into your future, trusting your gut, and keeping the faith that God will lead you where you were always meant to go.
If you were a Sunday school go-er like me, you probably remember the parable of the talents. 3 servants were given talents to manage while their master was away. 2 of the servants invest their talents and gain an income, and the third chooses to bury his talent in the ground. I’m not a great interpreter of the Bible, but to me it’s always felt like the third servant operated out of fear. He was afraid he’d lose his talent, so he instead just buried it. He choose safety and he let fear win over what he’d been given.
Gosh, I don’t want that to be me. I don’t want to operate out of fear. I want to be brave and generous with what I’ve been given! Let’s choose to invest in our gifts, friends. Let’s choose to be brave.
As a side note, if you’re looking for more bravery, I highly, highly recommend Annie F. Downs’ devotional 100 Days to Brave. It’s a wonderful daily dose of small things we can do to be the brave people God made us to be.
Wrapping Up.
Being faithful in the little things leads to abundance. We can see it in the story of the talents (above) and we can see it in everyday life. It’s what reminds me to dig in when I want to run, and it helps me show up day after day to do the hard things when I really don’t want to. (Like, really really don’t want to.)
**OVER TO YOU: How are you being faithful in the little things? Which one of these tips resonated with you the most? I’d love to hear your thoughts and start a conversation in the comments below!
