IT IS IN THE LITTLE THINGS
The pamphlet given at the gates had a quote to fittingly describe the Cockington Green Gardens which two friends (Grace and Marie) and I visited a week ago. It said: “It is in the little things.”
The unique attraction in Canberra boasts of miniature buildings and villages, painstakingly built by hand by artisans from around the world, some of them taking as long as three years!
The amount of detail in the displays was extraordinary and mind-blowing. It was like entering a charming and magical world, only it was half my size! It is a place where I could imagine elves and dwarfs to be frolicking at night.
The gardens were enchanting to look at. As I marveled at the scaled-down structures, I was astonished to see the littlest details jump at me – how the eyes of little people gazed back at me with expectation, how the lips lifted up at the corners to give a cheery smile, how a veined hand reached out to hold a child crossing the street, how arms were raised in apparent victory, and so on and so forth.
The features were lavish to the point of being real, only they were tiny. You had to kneel sometimes to be at a level where you will see how meticulous and exacting the artists behind these works were.
And I looked at the pamphlet again and the tag line in front of it – “It is in the small things.” It made me think how indeed in our daily lives we sometimes take the small things for granted, just because they are not big, or grandiose, or expensive. For instance, we immediately judge a gift by the size of its package, or a book by the beauty of its cover, or a house by the elegance of its design, or a man by the smoothness of his words, or a woman by the creaminess of her skin.
We often measure love and commitment by the magnitude or extent of its expression, not realizing that, ultimately, both should be measured in the small everyday things that are done simply, consistently, frequently, and without fail: the smile that brightens up even your darkest day, the hand that pats your back to calm you down, the mouth that says loving words to show faith in you when even you are doubting yourself; the gentle hand extended to you when you need help, the hug that makes your world whole again after it crumbled down. These and many other little gestures, words, and acts of love and care by far are a better gauge of how others truly value you.
The next time you are awed by impressive declarations of friendship, or loyalty, or love, or care and concern, do not dwell on the big things. Take a moment and consider the not-so-obvious things. After all, "It is in the little things."