Day One
"Small Things"

Psalm 119

א Aleph

1 Blessed are those whose ways are blameless,
    who walk according to the law of the Lord.
2 Blessed are those who keep his statutes
    and seek him with all their heart—
3 they do no wrong
    but follow his ways.


Footnotes:

Psalm 119:1 This psalm is an acrostic poem, the stanzas of which begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet; moreover, the verses of each stanza begin with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet.


It is no small thing but I wish I could read Hebrew...the translated words of the first three verses of this Psalm are beautiful in themselves but to be able to see the acrostic poem and read this poetry of praise by using the Hebrew alphabet would be a wonderful experience.  As a writer and a poet, I recognize the great skill of the author to do this and I am in awe of him.  And because of this, I almost missed the point of what he was trying to convey.

How many people do you know "who walk accordingly to the Law of the Lord?"  How many keep God's statutes?  Like me, most of us fall short, but I know a few who come very close, and they are not only blessed but are a blessing to me."  I don't think the author thought these people are "perfect" but in his eyes they do no wrong because they live their strong faith. St. Francis of Assisi comes to mind when I read this praise, and St Clare.  Mother Theresa is another person that I know he is talking about.

This, following God. also is no "small thing" so why did the writer of this devotion call the first day, "Small things." In this and the following devotions, there is ancient Celtic poetry to read, and prayers to recite, along with part of the 119th Psalm to be read....when taken all together you see an image emerging of the small things becoming larger than life itself....

The poetry, i read today, sings praises to Jesus for his ability to heal the withered tree or to wither the healthy one. It goes to say in a beautiful way that all of nature recognizes this and sings.  The prayers remind us that nature recognizes the creator and that this is something we must do....and that recognition alone is not enough.  We must celebrate God.

So the "small things" are recognizing God as our creator.  It is following His laws and doing what He asks us to do.  The "small things"  are the very first steps we must take in our relationship with God.  


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I thought studying this book would be easy...all I have read is the first three pages and what I have just written is what I understand right now, in this moment...I believe that there is even more to be gleaned in the devotion...but it is time for me to rest...and hope that God will instruct me as go further into the book.  Maybe I am not to understand it all now....maybe I am just learning like you and down the road all of us will become enlightened.