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It's The Smallest Things


It’s been about five weeks now that we’ve been “Safe at Home” here in Kentucky. We don’t leave our homes except for absolute necessities. Even our worship services are online during these strange times.

I’ve come to realize that the smallest things bring me joy now. Children in our neighborhood playing in their driveways. Families going for walks together. Redbud trees blooming. Small things. Simple things.

I’m reminded of a time I was visiting with my grandmother as she was nearing one hundred years of age. She was born in 1893. I asked her, “Grandmother, you’ve lived a long life; you’ve been witness to a lot of history and seen a lot of things happen. Of all the things you’ve seen and experienced over your lifetime, what is the one thing that has meant the most to you? What has impacted you most?”

I anticipated she would take a moment to reflect on her near century of life. After all, she had witnessed the invention of the automobile, the discovery of flight, women being allowed to vote, radio, television, man stepping foot on the moon! She had lived through the Spanish-American War, The Great War, World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf War. I don’t want to leave out telephones or microwave ovens. Or homes that now have electricity. She could have said any one of the things I have listed and I wouldn’t have been surprised. But she didn’t.

Without hesitating she blurted out, “Hot and cold running water.”

I would never have guessed that in a million years. Hot and cold running water. Something so simple, or so I thought, made such a difference in her life. No more did she have to draw water from a spring or a well. No longer did she have to pour it into a pot, build a fire and wait for it to boil. All she had to do was turn on a faucet.

I give thanks for the small things around me nowadays more than ever. Flipping on a light switch, turning on a water faucet. A car that starts and a phone that connects me with my daughters that live far away.

And ice cream. Never forget ice cream.

But there’s one big thing that I’m thankful for that I think about every day during these strange days. He’s got this. He will see us through, and better days are coming.

Let us not forget.

_______________
Rick Algood
April 19, 2020

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