All the Fall, All the Small
Tomorrow is the first day of fall, so I busted out my fuzzy pink cardigan and my cute boots, lit a maple candle, and started putting out fall decor (when I should’ve been writing).
Yes, I live in the middle of the desert. Yes, I’m sure this makes me seem like a basic white girl. Yes, I had to take off my sweater before I did the crab walk around the classroom with my students while operatically singing my 9 times tables. Yes, my feet are sweaty.
No, none of that ruined it for me.
Saturday, we’re making chili—even if the high is 93. I’m busting out my watercolor autumn leaves—even if, outside, there are tumble weeds and cactus (which I’m still enjoying). I have plans to make pumpkin bread and eat the jar of apple butter I was gifted (possibly by the spoonful)—even if they negate the calories I burn on my runs.
I’m doing these things because they bring me joy—and they just might bring other people joy too.
These little moments of reveling in seasonal change aren’t necessarily life changing, and a lot of people might think they are silly. They aren’t the choices everyone would want (or need) to make. And I can’t make these choices at the expense of other more important things (it would be foolish to ignore school work in order to hang my fall wreath—I know that), but sometimes, it’s the fun little choices that spread beauty and cheerfulness that end up having a bigger impact than we expect.
Because when we take the time to curate small corners of beauty and joy, sometimes the overwhelming things currently packing the biggest wallop are put more firmly in their place. (And there are almost always overwhelming things on our plates.)
And even more, when we touch and taste and smell and see and hear good things around us, they can act as reminders of the goodness of our God. If we’re paying attention, we can see God working good in the big things and the small. But sometimes we really do have to pay attention.
When we do, we are humbled, remembering that these small things are to us what our big things are to God. Not only that, God cared for the small too: the atom with its spinning electron, the cell with its curving mitochondria, the molecule with its satisfied bonds. We’re allowed to care about the small things because He did first. And we’re allowed to trust Him with the big things (while we enjoy the small ones as signs of what is to come), because our big things aren’t that big in comparison to Him just as lighting a candle and changing out a couple pictures isn’t that big of a deal for us.
Maybe when we care about the small instances of beauty and joy, we reflect God’s glory more fully. Maybe He loves to see us celebrating the small things while leaving the big things in His hands. And maybe when we share those small things with others, it can remind them of God’s goodness (and our beloved smallness) too.
So yes, I’m digging out the wreath tomorrow (in between all the other things) and tracking down a few more autumnal candles and making loaves of pumpkin bread…that will be sent out into the neighborhood like little ships carrying the news of God’s goodness. But I’m keeping at least one ship for myself too.
