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It Doesn’t Take Much To Make a Big Difference

It doesn’t take much to make something look a whole lot better. In fact, just a little is all you need to make a big difference.

big difference

We came home from vacation and our back lawn was incredibly long – so long that the grass couldn’t hold itself up; it was laying down … that’s how long it was. 

It looked atrocious … kind of like the way most of us looked in the early seventies to our parents. We thought we looked great, but our parents hated our long hair. It was wild and unruly – at least mine was. 

Over the last five months many of us experienced that wild and unruly look again, while others experienced it for the first time. With hair salons closed because of COVID, we all went a long time without getting trimmed.

I, for one, was coming up with a new way to comb my hair every day. When my hair got too long for one look, I started experimenting where I would part it. I went from sort of a side part to gradually moving my part farther up my scalp until it got to the middle. Sometimes I whisked my bangs to the side, sometimes they just flopped down my forehead.

The one consistent thing about my hair was it looked bad. It always looked like I needed a haircut three weeks ago. 

Well, our lawn looked like that after our vacation. 

I really didn’t want to cut it because I knew that my lawnmower would be chugging the whole way and I would be stopping and starting, having to keep clearing the clumps of grass out from under the machine deck.

When I thought about it, I remembered when I was growing up and had to cut my back yard. It was big and would take over an hour and a half. We would always leave it too long so it was even more painful to cut. We would have to take two steps forward and then back up, step forward and then back up again. 

Looking at our lawn the other day, I had that painful memory that made me wish we had paved the whole yard.

When I got out there, I decided that I would have to cut the lawn two or three times over the next several days to get it as short as the front yard. 

I started on the highest setting on the lawnmower. To my surprise it didn’t clog up and I was able to cut the grass in a reasonable time with ease.

I was just trimming the tops though. I figured I had a few more passes to go. 

… Maybe not. When I stepped back and looked at it, even though it was a couple of inches longer than the front yard, the back yard looked great – nice and trimmed. 

It looks so good I’m going to leave it for a few days before I do any more trimming. 

… Maybe long can look good.

Here’s the thing:  Salvation is a little like that. When you give your life to Christ and have your sins forgiven, there is still much that needs to be changed. But that initial faith that you place in Jesus Christ makes a big difference in you. The transformation is huge and noticeable. Sure, there’s lots more to work on; that can come later. Just be sure to take that initial step, to give Jesus control. It makes a big difference.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What little thing do you need to do that will make a big difference? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Our Stuff Doesn’t Last As Long Anymore

Things don’t last as long as they once did. We also don’t try as hard to make them last.

This is particularly true with clothes … and many other things.

When I was a kid, I remember my mom would sew my ripped jeans at the knee. Sure, I had a stitch line that looked like a crease going across my knee, but I would get more time in those jeans.  

Mom also had some iron-on patches and sometimes, if the rip or the hole was too big to sew together, she would iron on a patch. 

The patch usually was a close, but not exact, match. It was really noticeable that I had a hole in those pants. But, hey, at least my skin wasn’t showing through. 

Nowadays we extend the life of jeans by just wearing the ripped skin-showing hole or holes in the knee. … Some pants already come that way. 

Years back there was a progression with pants. They would get sewn, then patched. When the patch started to lose its grip and begin to flap, Mom would cut those jeans off above the knee and you’d have a pair of shorts to wear. 

You really could get a lot of wear out of a pair of pants back then.  

Not so much now. 

My favourite jeans have a hole in them. I just noticed it. It’s going to get bigger too, so time is running out on these good ol’ pants of mine.

They seem to be coming to an end far too quickly, and the rip isn’t even in the knee. 

The hole in my pants is developing in my back pocket. It’s where I keep my wallet. 

It’s not that I carry huge amounts of cash in my wallet or that I have three inches of credit cards and identification back there either. It’s just that I have a hard case for my credit cards and a billfold with pointy edges. 

That combo creates extensive friction against my pants pocket and, though from the front the pants look fine, my right back pocket is starting to look like a real mess. 

It’s not fashionable yet, and I can’t cut them off at the pocket either. Sewing and patches? Well, I don’t think that style is ever coming back. It’s time to start looking for new jeans. 

I’m looking forward to the day when I won’t have to carry credit cards or cash with me. I do make many purchases electronically from my watch, but if we went cashless, if that became more fashionable, my pockets wouldn’t wear out and I could wear my favourite jeans for years. 

There is one thing that might save my jeans: it’s called darning. Some of you have never heard of the word … because nobody does it any more. 

When I was a kid, if you got a hole in your socks, your mom would say, “ah darn”, and then she would take needle and wool and close up the hole. 

My back pocket hole is darn-able; it’s not that big. I even said “darn” the first time I discovered it. Maybe I’ll bring back darning. 

… Not the word, just the fixing hole part. 

Here’s the thing: When it comes to relationships, we often don’t put effort into keeping relationships that are in need of repair. We just move on. Even with the Lord, we can be guilty of not trying hard to keep up our relationship. All relationships are worth it – especially your relationship with Christ. So do what you need to do to preserve, repair or fix your relationship with God.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What relationship needs repair in your life? Leave your comments below.