The Least.

She drops the dried apple onto the floor and it rolls under the table.

Not again.

If I had a penny for every time she dropped or spilled something...

"Pick it up please, Lillie."

As she stoops to find the runaway apple, she bumps her head on the chair.

I listen for what will come next.

If I hear crying, I know there will be a knot there to add to the others she seems to acquire at random frequent intervals, and if not, I may be able to continue on with the tomato I am cutting on the counter.

"I am okay, Mommy.  That dumb apple made me bump my head on the chair."

I am spared the tears this time.

She runs by with the stray apple now recovered.  I turn to look at her.

She smiles.

"I love you, Mommy."
 

It seems as if her smile has infected me and awakened me from the consuming chaos of "busy"
that had been mine.

As she comes through the kitchen a few minutes later,

I wipe the tomato seeds from off my fingers and stoop down to grab her as she passes by.

She giggles as I whip her into the air and swing her upside down so that I can tickle her belly.
  She laughs and another dried apple falls to the floor from her loosened fingers,

but this time I am not irritated.

I had almost missed that chance to capture her smile and listen to her laugh.

I had almost let that moment pass for the sake of a couple extra slices of tomato making it into that busy minute...

a minute that I would never have back.

 

As I sat down to my Bible reading the next morning,

I came across that verse again,

the verse that seems to pop up and stab me in the heart on a regular basis these days,

on days when I feel like I am not doing enough for the Lord, for the mankind, for the world,

more to fill the moment with worthwhile substance than the variable idiosyncrasies of home-maker.

"And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward."  

Matthew 10:42

 It reminds me of this one, another I seem to bump into a lot:

"And said unto them, 'Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me:

and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me:

for he that is least among you all,

the same shall be great."   

Luke 9:48

Then there is this one:

"And the King shall answer and say unto them,

'Verily I say unto you,

Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.' "

Matthew 25:40

I hope that I will take this task that God has given me and pray to honor it,

the way He does.

I will try to give to the "least of these" the importance and good attitude that I would give to 

the most important job in the world,

because that is exactly what it is...

His will for me now.

Join me as I spend the next 30 days writing daily,

along with this group of others at the Nester's blog

who commit to 31 days of writing.