As a new mom, a friend of mine regularly reported sleeplessness. Sipping hot drinks while her infant alternated between fussing and sleeping, she told me how it had occurred to her one late, loud night that her baby was doing his job:

He was growing.

The sweet little guy didn’t understand what was happening as his adorable cheeks filled out and squirming legs got longer. He didn’t have any way to communicate his needs or frustrations except for fussing.

Listening to her gentle wisdom and his soft murmurs as he settled into her arms, it struck me that my growing is often done with kicking and tears too.

Growth is uncomfortable. Change, though we long for it, is jarring while it happens.

Growth is uncomfortable. Change, though we long for it, is jarring while it happens. But with God, we get grow in grace.
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As God’s own children, though, we are invited to:

“Grow in grace.”  –2 Peter 3:18

It’s striking that this is God’s invitation.

More often, we presume He’d like us to:

• Grow in guilt.
• Grow in obligation.
• Grow in fame.
• Grow in perfection.
• Grow in contentment.

We tend to act as if God doesn’t know it takes some adjusting to walk on longer legs. As if He isn’t aware it takes some time to get used to new routines when we lose a loved one, move, or say “yes” to a different opportunity to serve Him.

To us, grace is reserved for the “no”s of life, not the “yes”s.

• Fail in grace.
• Resign in grace.
• Settle in grace.
• Pretend in grace.
• Backpeddle in grace.

But again, we face the wonderful truth.

God says:

“Grow in grace.”  –2 Peter 3:18

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Tiny lights twinkle.

Cookies substitute entrees at parties.

Our song selection shrinks as we delete in repeating the same tunes.

Little things make us nostalgic and remind us to appreciate what we usually overlook.

Miniature figures remind us of the quaint scene in history that changed eternity.

God has a history of making much of little.

We see this in the celebration of the birth of our Savior.

Jesus incarnate was once the size of a poppy seed- which is comparable to the size of the mustard seed of faith that God says can move mountains.

Jesus, who is fully God, was born as a wee baby, small enough to fit in a manger. Because of Him, we can be born again.

Jesus’s birth, quiet and quaint, was proclaimed by angels who sang to the least of these: shepherds on night shift. They were the first to know that the spotless lamb, the true Shepherd had come.

Jesus humbled Himself to be a dependent baby. Wise men came to gift a child who, at heart, is alone wise and is the source of all wisdom.

Jesus grew from small to man-sized, though as God He cannot be contained.

Jesus, alive in skin and bones in the vastness of the world, was visible and touchable. He was submitted to temptation and suffering just as we are.

Jesus, though able to call a legion of angels and the rightful judge of the world, though able to call down fire, walk through fire, and light a bush without burning it up— hung on a tree to die for you and me. A tree, whittled down to two beams then nailed into a cross.

Jesus choose to be tiny. Jesus opted to be faithful in the little.

Jesus showed that, to God, small is great.

Something to think about when:

Tiny lights illuminate a room.

Bite-sized treats burst with flavor.

A simple chorus entices us to sing with booming voices.

Details effortlessly bring to life what was and what we hope will be.

The story depicted in a plate-sized space speaks peace and love and joy that lasts forever.

It’s the season of small, magnified. 

Let’s praise Him with one woman who believed God’s promise when the fulfillment was too small yet to see:

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!”

–Luke 1:46-47

We’ve got an awful lot of small stuff to behold His greatness in!

What little things bring you to praising God at this time of year?

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