Situations are created by a multitude of little things. Often it is difficult to explain why something happened without a long dissertation of things that are almost inconsequential but are indeed not inconsequential.
It snowed. Okay. No big deal. It snows in New England. We expect it and want it. It got warm. We like that. Some of the snow melted. It got cold. It always gets cold here in February. The melted snow turned to ice. It snowed on top of the ice. It got a bit warm and a huge storm came through that rained instead of snowed. See. This is tedious. But it set up a minor disaster. The ice with the snow on top created a dam that would not let the water run off the patio and thus created a lake that could only run into the basement under the door. Horrors. Time for sandbags – free from city emergency services. I realize this was a boring paragraph. But that’s my point. Small things create situations.
It’s like that with lies. A tiny exaggeration here and there is no big deal. Or is it? Once a foundation is laid for a scenario it often becomes necessary to continue to embellish so the original story continues to make sense. Neighbors fight with neighbors often over something very small that compounded into someone shooting someone.
One of life’s great lessons is watch the little stuff because little stuff has a tendency to become big stuff. Tell the truth. Say I’m sorry. Be quick to give more than you think is fair because what you think is fair usually is smaller than what others think is fair.
Basically do what Jesus told us to do. Go the second mile. (It’s the second mile in our heads. It’s the first foot for the person we offended.) See Matthew 5:41
Written by Roger Bothwell on March 1, 2010
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org