Small Is Powerful

It's almost 8pm at the end of a long, long day. Everything that could have gone wrong today, did. I'm actually at my computer because I was planning to put two more hours into a client project that is due Friday. It was either work late tonight or begin work tomorrow at 6 a.m. Then, just as I settled down to work, my husband popped into the office.

"I need to download something off the Internet."

"I can't access that site from the office computer," I reply.

"But I really need it." He explains why. He can't finish his work for the evening without this material.

I schlep downstairs. I have to wedge myself in the equipment closet and perch on the end of an uncomfortable kitchen chair so that the computer's cords reach all the various plugs and ports. I connect the laptop into the router. The Internet browser crashes. I can't get it to restart. The website will only work on that browser. My dearly loved husband is hovering over me and I am ready to punch him in the nose if he doesn't stop hanging over my shoulder peppering me with questions.

I struggle, I wrestle. I am impatient on a good day. I have a bad temper. I'm a hands on learner, and when faced with any kind of technology problem I just have to 'feel' my way through the problem. The clock is ticking. I have two client projects to review before I turn in tonight, two  other projects due Friday.

Finally, after wrestling with the computer and doing technological cartwheels, I get the [expletive deleted] website to load. I am able to save the material he needs to a disk. I am able to bring it upstairs, convert the file, turn more technological cartwheels, and print his materials....an hour later. I'm practically in tears.

He says with genuine gratitude, "Thank you."

It's over an hour later. My files are waiting.

I sit down to work. I turn on Facebook for a few minutes of hanging out with my friends so that I can decompress and destress before turning back to the files I must review. A post catches my eye, an article link from the St. Michael Society. Here's the link. Read it and come back:


Small Is Powerful - Marriage & Family - The Word Among Us

I had tears in my eyes after I finished this article. Yes, the little things. That is what is important. All those tiny daily moments that we can either use to increase our holiness or step aside and continue mired in our own personal weak spots. My own is impatience. I'm a Type A+++. And when I'm under stress, I snap, snarl and forget to act human.  Tonight I did a little bit to rein in my temper. I did something small that ended up being powerful. It took all my self control to do it.  I knew how important it was to my spouse to get the materials he needed.

I want to remember this article for a long time.....it's the little things in marriage and family that lead to holiness or hell, and the moments in between that connect or break relationships.

It's like droplets of water.  By themselves, they are just tiny things. Added together, they can become a nourishing downpour, a rushing cascade, or the river that carves the Grand Canyon.