Sit Down At the Bench and Start Doing the Little Big Things

Jan 31, 2022 | Kids & Family, Ministry & Leadership

Sometimes I feel like the world’s best procrastinator (see how I put a positive spin on that?). When I was about 12 years old, my parents made me take piano lessons (seriously, I didn’t have a choice.) A thirty minute piano lesson every Monday, and thirty minutes of practice every day in between. What 12-year-old wants to spend thirty minutes a day learning to play the piano? Not me.

I can remember how much I disliked doing my daily practices. There were always other rabbits to chase. And if there weren’t, I’d try and create some. Practicing the piano seemed grueling to me.

However, what I found was that the thirty minutes of practice wasn’t actually the hardest part.

The hardest part of learning to play the piano was getting myself to sit down on the bench and get started. 

If I could simply discipline myself to just sit down, the rest of my practice time flowed pretty easily. Yet, I would regularly make all kinds of excuses for why I should procrastinate and not sit down on that bench.

It was a little thing, but I had mentally turned it into a big deal. It’s what I call a little big thing. 

LITTLE BIG THINGS CAN BE COSTLY 

Sadly, what I’ve found throughout my life is that this faulty mindset has sometimes followed me into bigger and more important areas now as an adult. I at times procrastinate on little big things that are really quite easy if I’ll just take the time to actually do them.

This last week we had to replace the windshield on our minivan because I failed to call our insurance to do a rock chip repair that would have been covered for free. All of a sudden… Pop!… that rock chip split from one end of the windshield to the other, and quickly became a painful reminder that my procrastination had now cost me $336. Man, if I’d have just made that call.

Do you ever find this true of yourself? There are things you know that you should do, but for one reason or another, they simply stay in the “good intentions file”… left undone.

In his book, Getting Things Done, David Allen originated what is now popularly known as the 2 minute rule. This rule basically states that if something would take less than two minutes to accomplish, don’t put it on that day’s checklist, just do it in the moment. This nugget of wisdom has helped me many times. But I can’t say that I always follow it. 

LITTLE BIG THINGS SHOULD BE EASY

Sadly, for many of us, there are more important things than expensive windshields and difficult piano lessons at stake. There are little big things that aren’t necessarily hard to do, we’ve just kept kicking that can down the road for some reason, and it could end up costing us.

Yet, there are hearts and lives of people we love on the line.

For many parents, this might include any of the following good intentions:

  • Praying with your family daily
  • Saying I love you or giving regular hugs
  • Taking the time to praise your kids for the little things they do right
  • Having accountability or a schedule for device time
  • Spending one-on-one quality time with each of your kids
  • Or simply reconnecting with that family member or friend who only lives a few minutes away, but it feels much farther than that.

All of these things are easy, but they don’t happen on their own. 

“Sometimes the most important things in life are the easiest to get left undone. These are the little big things.”

LITTLE BIG THINGS MUST BE DONE

For me personally, there has been something that God put on my heart for the last two years that I needed to do with my older kids, but it never got past the good intentions file. Because it never got put on my schedule… I never sat down at the bench.

It was something so simple – to do a weekly morning Bible study together – but until the past few weeks, I’d never taken the time to ‘sit down at the bench’ and get it started.

Since we’ve started doing these weekly Bible studies recently, it’s been refreshingly fun and exciting to study God’s Word together. It truly is a living book. Thankfully, it’s come very easily and naturally, and something that I only wish I’d have started sooner.

So, what’s “the bench” for you? What’s the little big thing that God has put on your heart that you’ve been putting off? You know, the thing that’s really not that hard, but you just need to turn it from a good intention into a bit of good intentionality for the sake of your family?

Whatever it is, go sit down at the bench this week, and I’m guessing the rest will start to flow pretty easily.