Smallness

A good friend of mine shared two Scripture verses with me a few weeks ago and they have really become sort of a motto when I go about my daily work. The verses are, "Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil. Better a small serving of vegetables with love than a fattened calf with hatred." -Proverbs 15: 16, 17 Also, "Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife." -Proverbs 17:1
I especially need to be reminded of these verses and what God desires from my heart/attitude when I am living day to day. Sometimes my ideas/expectations/standards for my endeavors are SO BIG that I fail miserably trying to achieve them. And then I get grumpy... and who do you think suffers the consequences? Yes, my family! Thankfully God blessed me with a husband who's heart is full of never-ending grace and forgiveness!
These verses also go along with a quote that Mike and I love. We first read about Mother Teresa in a book that we started back in the fall called "The Irresistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne. Shane actually worked side-by-side with Mother Teresa for a summer in Calcutta, India and his experiences broke so many stereotypes that he previously held about this amazing woman. He was so shocked to see her putting herself below the needy and poor in terms of her physcial needs and status. Shane said that when the temptation to do great things was before him, he
"learned the discipline of doing small things with great deliberation". Mother Teresa said, "We can do no great things, just small things with great love. It is not how MUCH you do, but how much LOVE you put into doing it".
I have to remind myself of these verses the next time I am tempted to try making an elaborate Martha Stewart-inspired dome cake on Christmas Eve (my familiy can tell you about Christmas Eve 2002)! I should just buy the cake if it means my house will be void of the "strife" and "hatred" (I surely hated my decision AND the recipe at that point!) mentioned in Proverbs.