PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

March 8, 2023

LITTLE THINGS

Several weeks ago in an interview with ESPN Javier Baez of the Chicago Cubs said that very often he and many of his fellow players were simply not ready for the first pitch last year.  “It wasn’t something bad, but we have a lot of optional things.  Not mandatory. Everyone kind of sat back on that including me.  I wasn’t really going out there and preparing for the game.  I was getting ready during the game, which is not good.”  From Baez’s comments the 2019 Chicago Cubs were regularly not doing the little things necessary to compete from the starting pitch.  Some attribute this lack of preparation to the Cub’s manager, Joe Maddon.

One of the greatest, if not the greatest, college basketball coaches of all time was John Wooden.  Over a twelve year span his teams won ten national championships, seven of them in a row.  Wooden was the head coach for UCLA from 1948-1975.  He had a lifetime .804 winning percentage at Indiana State and UCLA.  Wooden was known for his attention to details.  An example of this was how he started every season.  His players were shown how to correctly put on their socks.  Even the smallest detail was important to Wooden.

In Song of Solomon we read “Catch us the foxes, the little foxes, that ruin the vineyard – for our vineyards are in blossom.” (Song of Solomon 2:15)  The author is reminding the reader that it is the little things in life that do us in and we should pay attention to them.  Most of us can deal with the big things in life because they force us to give them attention.  It is the small things that can be easily overlooked. We can dismiss them as being unimportant.   However, in the end they become the source of our difficulty and grief.

We are in tax season.  Every year I have to fill out around twenty schedules and forms.  In addition I have a number of pages of supporting information.  Many of the forms and schedules are interrelated and a mistake on one is compounded on another.  Usually, it takes me three or four times to go through everything before I finally feel comfortable sending them to the federal and state.  Last year I inadvertently sent a form for 2017 instead of the correct one for 2018.  Because of the error the Department of the Treasury sent me an incorrect refund.  It took me almost six months to finally get the error corrected.  This year I made doubly sure that all of the information I sent was correct and for the current year.  I did not want a little thing like an incorrect form with a single error mess up my return.

Besides a home one of the most expensive investments that a person can make is an automobile.  To keep it running smoothly there are little things that one can do such as change regularly oil and air filter, check tire pressure, rotate tires, clean windshield and outside cameras, replace windshield wipers as needed and keep windshield clean.  Fortunately, where I take my car to have the oil changes they pay attention to all of these little things as well as others.  However, they can not help to keep my cars running smoothly if I never take them.

In almost every aspect of our lives it is important that we pay attention to the little things.  In so doing we can prevent many problems and headaches.  Developing regular patterns, routines and disciplines can go a long way to assure that we give attention to the little details that are important if we want to have our lives to run smoothly.

This article was originally published March 8, 2023.