Over the weekend, I had the chance to take some pictures for some pretty big milestones: my nephew Nicholas celebrated his first birthday (complete with fistfuls of cake that so thickly coated his hands that they looked like gloves), and I took some portraits of my nephew Logan who is about to be baptized next week. One thing I love about taking pictures is that it helps capture some of those “big” moments that come around in life–birthdays, anniversaries, milestones, etc.
And those big moments are important—sometimes they are what we need to get us back on the right path, or sometimes they are so big they change our path entirely. A full life usually has many such “big moments” in it, each with its own contribution to our unique journeys.
But yesterday in church, we were asked to write down how we believed we could become the best version of ourselves—the self that we’re supposed to be.
And this is what I wrote:
“I need to realize that seemingly small, daily habits eventually lead me towards lasting change (whether for the better or worse) just as much as the big, “defining” moments of my life. It’s easy to rationalize that this particular day is no different from any other or that today is not really very important, but in the long string of days that make up a life, I will find that most of my ability to reach my full potential will come not from the triumphs and milestones that occasionally come my way, but from the power of harnessing the little moments of seemingly insignificant days. I become a patient person not merely by experiencing a major trial that forces me to wait on the Lord—I become a patient person by practicing patience each and every day. I become a loving person not merely by saying wedding vows or renewing them upon our anniversary, but by practicing moments of love each and every day, whether I consider those days to be ‘significant’ or not.”
While the big moments are important, I am grateful for “typical” days like today, for I know that in them I also am becoming whoever I’m meant to be just as much as in the “big” days of my life.
