There is a Bible scripture in Judges chapter 7 about a man named Gideon. I've read this scripture several times, but for whatever reason, I discovered a new facet of it in recent weeks. It became the basis of a sermon, "The Little Things". First, let us consider the text:
[1] Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.
[2] And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.
[3] Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.
[4] And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.
[5] So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.
[6] And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.
[7] And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand...
While the size of Gideon's army often draws attention, what caught my eye this time was the manner by which God whittled down the size of Gideon's army. It was a little thing, something seemingly so inconsequential as how they drank water. And yet, it was a determining factor in whether one would be included in his band of fighters.
What dawned on me is that, in everyday life, we reveal ourselves in the little things. They speak volumes about who we are to anyone who is paying attention. And, it is those little things that are often determining factors in whether people will be drawn to or repelled by us, whether we will be received or resisted on a job interview or business venture, or in any number of other settings of human interaction. The insidious thing about little things is that we are often unaware and unconscious of these "tells" which betray our true internal state or future intentions.
Here are a few excerpts from that sermon.
...it is the little things that reveal the contents of the heart. We reveal ourselves in how we talk to people (or not), how we talk about people, how we carry ourselves, how we treat people... We reveal how we think, when we make assumptions about the motives of others, because we usually project onto them what we'd do in similar circumstances.
These revelations are especially telling when we are stressed, as stress consumes our energy and attention, making us less able to cover ourselves. But, no matter how good we are at covering things, we can't cover what we don't see.
Although we may make the effort to project a certain sanitized self to the world, and even to our loved ones, our true selves always make themselves known in the little things. It behooves us, then, to work just that much harder to become our best selves...
If you are interested in obtaining the full text, or even the recorded delivery (for a small fee), mention it in the comments.