Psalm 37:4 (KJV)
“Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”
Lately, I’ve been trying to notice the small things. The little moments in life that we sometimes overlook. I’ve come to realize that sometimes those small things carry more meaning than we initially understand.
A few days ago, I celebrated my 41st birthday. My nine-year-old daughter, who loves to draw, gave me a picture she had drawn of me. I loved it, of course. It was something she had taken the time to make just for me. But I didn’t really think much more about it until my sister reminded me of something from years ago.
When my husband and I first married, we were so in love. He does sketches and has always been talented at drawing. One thing that bothered me back then was that he had drawn pictures of his daughter and her mother, but he had never drawn one of me.
I know to some people that may seem like a small thing, but at the time it hurt my feelings. I wanted him to draw me. I guess in some way I wanted to feel special enough for him to take the time to do it. We had disagreements about it, and eventually I stopped bringing it up.
As I got older, I let it go. Life went on, and honestly, I hadn’t thought about it in years.
Then my birthday came, and my daughter drew me.
I didn’t even make the connection.
It was my sister who brought it to my attention. She reminded me of how much it used to bother me that my husband had never drawn me. Then she said something that made me stop and think. She said God has a sense of humor because He gave me a daughter who is an artist and loves me enough to draw me.
I thought about that for a while.
Isn’t that something?
Something that had once hurt my feelings so many years ago had come back around in a completely different way. I had wanted a picture drawn by someone who loved me, and here was my daughter giving me exactly that.
I hadn’t asked her to draw me. I hadn’t mentioned that old disappointment. She didn’t even know the story behind it.
She just loved me and wanted to draw me.
And that is what made it so special.
It made me wonder how many things God has done in my life that I haven’t even recognized. How many times have I received something I once prayed for or desired, but because it didn’t come the way I expected, I failed to see it?
Psalm 139:1 (KJV) says, “O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.”
I love that scripture because it reminds me that God knows us. He knows our hearts. He knows the things that bother us, even the things we eventually stop talking about.
I don’t know that I ever actually prayed for my husband to draw me. But I know it was something I wanted. It was a desire of my heart at that time.
And years later, I received something even sweeter.
Not because my husband finally drew me, but because my daughter did.
It wasn’t the answer I would have expected. It wasn’t even something I was still looking for. Yet it felt like a little reminder from God that He knows me.
Sometimes I think we expect answered prayers to be these big moments. We expect something dramatic to happen so that we can say, “Look what God did!”
But what about the small things?
What about the moments that seem ordinary until someone helps us see them differently?
James 1:17 (KJV) tells us, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.”
That scripture makes me think about my daughter’s drawing. To someone else, it may just be a picture drawn by a child. But to me, it has become something more.
It is a reminder of how life has a way of coming full circle.
It is a reminder that some things we once thought were so important may not matter as much as we grow older.
And it is a reminder that sometimes we receive blessings we didn’t even realize we were waiting for.
I think about how God has been teaching me to pay attention to the little things, especially as I’ve gotten older. Life changes. People change. We lose people we love. We begin to understand just how precious ordinary moments really are.
A conversation. A laugh. A phone call. A drawing from a child.
Things that once seemed so small begin to mean so much more.
Zechariah 4:10 (KJV) says, “For who hath despised the day of small things?”
Maybe that’s what I’m learning in this season of my life. Not to overlook the small things. Not to be so busy looking for something big that I miss what is right in front of me.
I don’t believe every little thing that happens has to be a sign. But I do believe God can use ordinary moments to remind us of His goodness.
And I believe this was one of those moments for me.
God really does have a sense of humor.
And perhaps sometimes an answered prayer doesn’t look like what we imagined. Sometimes it comes years later, through someone we never expected, at a time when we aren’t even asking anymore.
This birthday, my daughter gave me a reason to stop, reflect, and thank God for the small things.
And I’m learning that sometimes the small things aren’t so small after all.
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