The Power of the Small

 

Last Sunday I kind of plummeted on the mental well-being scale.  I was restless and fussy, cranky, and dissatisfied, grumpy and in a need of a change of scenery.  I was able to voice my feelings to Darron and was able to express that I needed his attention.  I had fallen into the comparison game, mix that with a good case of mid-life who am I, where am I, and that equaled a woman in need of some focused listening.

Fortunately, Darron cleared his schedule from some pressing things and took me into the mountains of Lebanon for a hike. There he listened to me process out loud all these jumbled up feelings and wires that were misfiring in rapid succession. He took me to a scenic Arabic diner and fed me some tasty Lebanese food, as we tried to dodge the shisha smoke that is freely permitted.

We reaffirmed that the last 22 years of my life had indeed been focused right where we wanted it, on raising the 4 boys. That my said “accomplishments”, or lack thereof, were not significant compared to the honor of raising them.  The sincere listening and interest (and heaps of patience), from my husband, set my heart back into a normal sanitary rhythm.

We met this past week with a Lebanese young adult couple who are being mentored by another couple. The impact of the mentoring is significant and will have rippling effects.  I have been reflecting on the power of the small influence and things that seem somewhat insignificant (like raising children), but the ripple effect that these faithful, steadfast relationships bring into the lives of many.

Often, I am tempted (perhaps you are too) to gaze around me and wonder what in the world I am doing to change the world around me?  It feels so insignificant, so incidental. Yet often it is the abiding and being present (like the fruit on a branch) than the doing and accomplishing big things.

There are my musings.