The Little Things

There's an old saying: "it's the little things in life that bring the most pleasure." (Or something like that.) For my money, that's true. Sure, the big things may deliver the most happiness for a specific, usually quite short, amount of time, but the little things just keep on giving. The joys of the sound of rain on a metal roof, the smell of old books, the taste of the first bite of your favorite dessert after you've not had it for a while -- these never really diminish with time. They just keep making you happy again and again and again.

It seems we, as a society, have all turned into Calvins of "Calvin & Hobbes" fame: happiness isn't enough; we demand euphoria. We aren't content with the little things that breath life into us; we want perpetual unadulterated bliss. Maybe we're scared of actually hearing our own thoughts -- or the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Maybe we think the world owes us that kind of pleasure, that we deserve it or we've earned it somehow. Maybe we're afraid of the realities of this world which negate our happiness. I don't know. I just know that we don't, on the whole, take pleasure in the little things like we used to.

Instead the little things that shouldn't bother us enrage us. We can't let even an implied slight on social media go unanswered, and we're willing to fight over anything and everything. There used to be another saying -- "pick your battles." We ignore that one now, too. Anything can become a battle at any time. As we lose ourselves to fighting over those little things, we lose the ability for the other little things to bring us joy.

Don't let 2018 become known as the Year of Outrage. Let things go; enjoy something else besides squabbling on Facebook. God has far better things in store for you than that.