Stay!

There’s a story told about Father Barry Foster, a priest in Dublin, Ireland. One day he parked his car on a steep slope near his church. His little cairn terrier was curled up on the back seat, out of sight.

Father Foster got out, turned to lock the door, and gave his usual parting command to the dog.

“Stay!” he said loudly, to what looked like an empty car. “Stay!”

An elderly man had been watching the whole performance with great interest. Finally he grinned and said, “Why don’t you just try putting on the emergency brake?”

What the man couldn’t see was the dog.

The life of faith can look a little like that. We see the enormous need in the world around us, and we wonder what difference we could really make. A few cans of food for the soup kitchen. Half a day helping a neighbor with a declining spouse. A small check to a ministry.

From the outside, it can look about as useful as ordering a parked car to stay put on a hill.

But there’s more going on than meets the eye.

Take Habitat for Humanity, for example. It began in 1976 in a small town in Georgia. Today it has helped tens of millions of people around the world build or improve a place to call home. One nail at a time. One volunteer at a time.

The prophet Zechariah put it this way: “Whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice.” (Zechariah 4:10)

God is at work in ways we can’t see. And small things, placed in God’s hands, have a way of adding up.

Prayer: Gracious and loving God, when we grow anxious or cynical, open our eyes to what we cannot see. Take our small acts of love and generosity, and use them for more than we could ever imagine. For your glory, and for the good of your world. Amen.

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