Doing the "little things" right

"Catch the foxes for us, The little foxes that are ruining the vineyards, While our vineyards are in blossom."

(Song of Solomon 2:15)

I come from a long family line of athletics and coaching. As far back as you can find, my family has been involved in athletics and coaching athletics. Before my father became a successful insurance agent, he was a successful football coach. From Farmerville, to Winnfield, to West Monroe High School; wherever he went, he won. He never had an interview—always offers of hiring him on the spot. His focus wasn’t just having a winning record, but winning with his players. What I believe was a part of his success wasn’t just that he cared so deeply about his players, but that he believed so strongly in doing “the little things right.” Even after entering the insurance industry he continued to get calls and offers from programs from within our state and abroad. When a principal would call to ask my father to come look at their school he would always detour to the bathrooms. Why would he do that you might ask? Simple, he would go see how the bathrooms were kept up. If they didn’t have enough pride to take care of their bathrooms then they didn’t have enough pride in their school—they didn’t know how to win. He would call the principal and decline their meeting. I’ve also been coached by some other legendary coaches. One in particular was big on “doing the little things right”. When we would conclude with football practice, we were expected to have everything picked up from our equipment, to showers turned off, to stools put up, and so on. One day I remember coming in from practice and somebody had left out one stool from the previous day. Guess what? The whole team ran until we couldn’t run anymore! Guess what else? Nobody ever left there stool out again.

The point in all of this? My dad and these other coaches were trying to teach discipline, winning, and thinking “team” concepts. If you couldn’t learn to pick up your stuff after practice, then what if you missed that “key block” in a tight game? What if you “slacked up” the last few minutes of the fourth quarter? We were being taught that there was no “I” in team. We were being taught that for every little thing we missed, forgot, or wanted to do our “own way” would affect the team as a whole. Think this is ridiculous? Go look at their records and also the people they coached. They weren’t only teaching athletic concepts but “life concepts”.
This parallels so much in the Kingdom of God. There are certainly small things we shouldn’t sweat, but far too many times we as Christians miss the “small things”. We need to realize that we are responsible not only for our lives, but for others as well. We make up a “body”. Our choices and decisions affect the body as a whole. Every decision we make affects our spouses and our children. It’s the “small things” that go so far.

One of the reasons Chic Fil A is "set apart" from other fast food restaurants is they excel in doing "the small things" not just right, but GREAT!

When I was in the insurance business, I set several appointments everyday for sometime in the future. Obviously, a huge part of my market were churches and believers. I remember not being able to get returned phone calls from some of the smallest churches. Yet, there was one mega church in particular that every single staff member I called on, not only returned my call, but did so within 24 hours. When I had the opportunity to "brag on" this church and staff, they told me they are all given 24 hours to return calls. They obviously were big on "doing the little things right".

Doing the "little things right" goes so far! It’s picking up the small piece of litter in the parking lot that others have walked past. It’s picking up the ticket at lunch instead of “splitting it”. It's that sweet note you leave for your wife before you head off to work. It's returning phone calls promptly, returning emails, and being thorough. Not doing the "small things" can work in the reverse affect as well. It’s leaving the T.V. show on “a bit longer” when we know we should have cut it off. It’s allowing that “small piece of anger” in our hearts that turns into forgiveness over time. It’s the “small things” that aren’t dealt with in our marriage that turn into “large” things over time. It's allowing the "small attitude" squeeze by in our children instead of discipling them. Over time the "small attitude" turns into a "big problem".

You see, the small things really can matter in our lives. What are some of the "little things" you could do today that would make a "big difference"?