April 12

The might of little things

“The little foxes, that spoil the vines” (Cant. 2:15).
“Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour”(Eccl. 10:1).

The sum of life is made up of little things. They determine character and often decide our destiny. As the peasant’s coarse frock and the monarch’s robe are both made up of many small threads woven together, so is the garment of character woven together, out of the innumerable thoughts and words and deeds of each person’s daily existence. It is in the little things that Bible piety makes itself most winsome, and the mischief wrought by inconsistent Christians arises from the indulgence of petty sins that are as destructive as moths upon the garment.
Dr. Maclaren pithily says that “white ants pick a carcass clean sooner than a lion will.” The little meannesses of word and look, the irritations of temper, the small duplicities of speech, the “white lies” that are only whitewashed, the small affronts and petty spites, the thoughtless neglect of other people’s welfare, and the paltry excuses by which we strive to excuse ourselves from painful duty—all these make up an aggregate of sin.


A snowflake is a tiny thing that might melt in an infant’s hand. But enough of these may be heaped up by a blizzard on a railway track to stall the most powerful engine and its train. So is it the aggregate amount of inconsistent acts and neglects of duty that impair the influence of the individual Christian; they may accumulate into snowbanks that block up revivals and bring a whole church to a standstill. No sin is a trifle; no sin can be safely allowed to get headway.
“Let that worm alone, and it will kill your tree,” was said once to a gardener in a nobleman’s park. The gardener neglected the little borer, and the next year’s yellow leaves showed the slow assassination of the tree.
—Theodore Cuyler.

But what is life? Drops make the sea;
And petty cares and small events,
Small causes and small consequents,
Make up the sum for you and me;
Then, oh, for strength to meet the stings
That arm the points of little things.

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