“As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem”

These words from the 63rd chapter of the Prophet Isaiah are favorites of mine.

They give love and encouragement, especially in trying times. They originally gave hope to a people who suffered military defeat and exile to Babylon, modern day Iraq.

Today they still speak in trying times. Besides their words of comfort, I like them as they also show a description of God in feminine terms. Indeed, in Chapter 49 Israel is compared to the child of a womb. I have no problem, being a traditional person, in calling God father.

I realize that this, in part, is a product of Hebrew biology. The father sowed the seed, the female was truly mother earth. When a woman was called barren, it meant the soil could do longer support the seed. In reality the Creator God is light years beyond human sexuality.

What caught my eye was how one later added to the word changes its meaning. If your hand writing is like mine, a person reading the word could read, “Confront.”

Reminds me of the dyslexic guy who read the commandment, “Thou shalt not admit adultery.” It can be very different to be confronted as to be comforted. Times can call for both. I still remember Dr. McCurly in seminary saying that a prophet’s (and our’s) job was to “Comfort the challenged and challenge the comfortable.”

I got to thinking that, in general, as the old song says (Google it youngins) “Little things mean a lot.”

Perhaps the most vivid image of this is a baby born in a manger and a man hanging on a cross. This solitary life, Christians believe, has done more for the world than any army, political party, philosophy or bank account.

Through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus an upside down world has been turned right side up. The shattered has been put back together. Love has conquered hate.

“Absorpta est mors in victoria.” Death has been swallowed up in victory.

I can’t help but think of how it is the little things we do, in each and every day, that can mean a lot. One little thing can have great consequences.

My father spoke of a fellow railroad car inspector he knew. Big guy who took no guff from anyone one. All of sudden he started getting sickly. He started losing weight. By the time they found a solution to his problem, Ahnold Schwarzenegger had become Pee Wee Herman. The baffled doctor finally asked,“ Do you work around rats?”

It wouldn’t be uncommon to see a rat on a railroad car carrying edible cargo. Going on the theory that the car inspector had put his cigarette down where a rat had marked its territory, they were able to treat him. Mickey made a monster minuscule.

Little things.

I’ll never forget how one day I was filling my car with gas and noticed a guy filling cans for mowing lawns. We got talking.

I mentioned how I had just learned that mothballs placed on mowers can help keep mice and other vermin from eating electrical wires. They love the insulation for some reason.

Just a little sentence and his eyes got as big as headlights. “I don’t have the problem but I can tell my neighbor that.” A little thing said in the right way can truly mean a lot.

The opposite can, unfortunately be the case. The first day I work started working for my hometown’s General Copper and Brass Company, I found that out.

We drank both coffee and tea at my house. I even took hot tea in my thermos with Beverly Hillbillies lunch box to elementary school. It came time to have our first coffee break together. I poured a cup of hot tea out of my Thermos. “What the ... are you drinking?” “Tea,” I answered. Civility precludes me from telling you the literal response, but let’s say my gender was in question.

That stuck with me for many years. Then I realized that both the Russian Spetsnaz and English Royal Commandos drink tea. Both serve tea in their MREs.

This week consider the little things you can do. The right word or action or prayer at the right time came mean a lot.

A Thank You card can make a whole day for someone.

A harried Mom in supermarket might appreciate a smile. That new neighbor might appreciate an invitation to worship. Someone you haven’t spoken to in a while might like a phone call. Look around you. It is said that a missionary isn’t just one who crosses the seas, but one who sees the cross.

Remember that little man of the cross that turned an upside down world right side up.

Spread a little love today. Little things can mean a lot.