The little things

My parents have been married twenty-four and a half years and are, even now, very much in love.  How did they make their relationship work for that long, and how are they still in love?  The little things.  The way one looked at the other, noticed how tired their spouse was, and offered to make dinner.  The way Dad sends Mom flowers with a love note at random times, just to make her feel special.  The way they forgive quickly and look back at their failures together and each only remembers the good about the other.  Neither of them have to make sure the other has their back; they're married and they know that it's for life, but they keep the fire alive by doing the little things and not letting the wedge of complacency settle into their relationship.  How does this relate to me, you say?

Our relationship with Christ is similar!  Our relationship grows stronger when we start to see Him in the little things.  When the sun shines in your window in the morning, do you take it for granted?  Or do you thank the Almighty who makes the sun rise every day?  When we begin to see His blessing in our every day lives, we begin to sing His praises even without thinking about it!  Psalm 34:1 says, "I will extol the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips."  By praising him continually, we build up a loving relationship.  It's one thing to say you love Him; it's quite another to tell Him that every single day, with every single breath.  Like a married couple, we must build each other up or our relationship will never last.  God encourages us daily, but how often do we tell Him the things we love about Him and the things that make Him so amazing to us?  We are the bride of Christ but we can never make our relationship work unless we are totally committed to each other.  Christ is committed to us, but how committed are we to Him?  I don't know about you, but like my parents, I don't want to have to question whether my spouse has my back or not; I want to know.  And the sooner I start building my relationship with Christ, the better.  So I'm going to put into practice the things that I don't usually make a priority; singing praises to my Savior when I can't see the good in my situation, thanking Him for every breath that I breathe, and dancing for His glory...because in the end?  It's the little things that matter.

<3 Mik