“We have small lives,” she said. And so we do.
This Saturday night we are watching a football game, the volume on the TV low and nearly inaudible. She quilts, I read, yet together we watch the game. This activity is very different from what we did together forty years earlier.
In fact life is different from what we thought it would be. The dreams of yesterday have been unanswered in part, and changed in part, and fulfilled, at least in part, just as time and life does to such things.
So in time we have grown into the small lives that we now live.
But you see small doesn’t mean shallow. Or worthless.
Jesus once asked what it would profit if we gained the entire world but lost our souls, which if you think about it is a very good question. Somewhere along our journey, we resolved that question, and secured an eternity and destiny for our souls. What surprised us, though it shouldn’t have, is that this resolution also became our anchor for life, a true and secure foundation.
Moreover, it transformed our small lives.
No, we don’t have lives of rich or famous or powerful people. But we do have lives that are deep and profound and meaningful. And though small, they are not insignificant. Though obscure, they are full of value.
So on this Saturday night after a full day of labor and toil, we watch a football game. She quilts for a grandchild and I read, and together we enjoy quiet lives that though perhaps small are still meaningful.
For the short story, Small Lives, see Upstreet Magazine (number 14, 2018).
