The Tiniest of Details

As seen in the HEARTbeat and the Village Voice

“The Tiniest of Details”

When I was young, my father bought me and my younger brother a rudimentary telescope.  We would find just the right spot in the backyard to set the tripod and wait for darkness to fall on a summer evening.  It was not powerful enough to clearly see stars, but the moon filled the lens.  We were amazed at the detail on the surface of the moon, looking at all the craters big and small, and even scanning the “Man in the Moon’s” eyes and mouth trying to determine just exactly what they were.  Craters thought to be small were actually hundreds of kilometers in diameter!  What we thought were minor details were really huge.

Have you ever laid on the lawn and pulled back the grass to reveal the dirt?  Well, I haven’t done it lately, but I can remember what was revealed when I did.  Tiny insects were scurrying about in the same way we would look if we were walking among the mighty Sequoias in California.  It looked like a whole different world to me.  When worlds are thought to be huge, their world was so tiny – the tiniest of details.

This time of year brings about huge variations in our environment with the changing of the tiniest of details.  Deep green turns to red, maroon, yellow, and brown.  I was told at a young age the dropping of the temperature triggers these color changes.  As I grew, I found out it is not the temperature at all, it’s the daylight, or lack of it.  You see, as the days shorten, there comes a point as the number of sunlight hours (or let’s say light-minutes) becomes fewer.  It is the tiniest of details that triggers the biggest changes - the appearance of the fall colors.

God can cause some pretty massive changes in our lives.  When we come to a saving knowledge of His Son, Jesus, we experience some huge differences in our lives.  But it’s in our daily walk with Him that God makes those small changes in our lives that move us in the direction He would have us to go.  He molds us slowly but masterfully to become more in the image of His Son.  And it is in the image of His Son that people see the love and grace waiting for everyone.  It is through the Creator’s hands, the One who crafted the entire universe, that the tiniest and most important changes are masterfully made.

We marvel at the big changes in our world and in our lives.  But I would suggest we should marvel at the tiniest of details.  These are the changes God is making in us!  These are the ones people see the most, just as with the changing of the colors in Fall.  These are the changes God Himself smiles upon and says, “It is good!”