Once while sitting in a pediatric doctor’s waiting room, I read an article that a baby will have his or her diaper changed an average 3700 times. This means that by the time all four of our kids are out of diapers, we will have changed about 15000 wet and stinky, mushy wads of fiber. Ugh!
In a sermon I preached a few weeks ago, I spoke on Making a Difference. I was making the point about how our everyday, mundane choices make a difference, that we can advance the Kingdom of God in what we might assume as insignificant. I was trying to confront the myth that only the big choices make a difference. While I was preaching I said something like, “My attitude while changing a diaper makes a difference.” This statement was not in my notes. It just came out of my mouth and I almost had to stop myself while preaching and think more about what I was saying. I can choose to have a complaining attitude while serving my children or I can use this act as a prompter to pray for them.
It might not seem like much. It’s not something to put in one’s memoirs. But the very normal, everydayness of changing a diaper (and millions of other small stuff we do everyday) and the attitude I choose to have while doing it can change the world. I might not know exactly how I’m changing the world, but if I cannot do it in the small stuff, how can I join with God in his mission in bigger things?
What are some of the things in your life that could make a difference when done with an attitude of joining the work of the Spirit through that activity?
