My twenty-three-year-old daughter left for a one-week vacation in Florida. Just before she left, we were talking about doing a couple of changes to her bedroom. Silly as it may sound, it wasn’t the size of her twin bed that bothered her. It was the footboard that annoyed her most.  She would wake in the night when she somehow managed to kick it, stub a toe, or tangle herself in the slats.  She had taken to most often falling asleep on the couch in front of the TV because she was having problems sleeping in her bed. So, when she was gone, I purchased a new bed frame that did not require a footboard to stay together.  I dismantled the old frame, discarded it, and replaced it with the new one, attaching just the headboard.  I was pleasantly surprised by how simple it was.  Trust me. If I say it was simple, it was ULTRA simple.  It was like no tools required simple.  I put the thing together, washed her sheets, made her bed, and hoped it would make a difference. Actually, it made a huge difference.  The first night home from her trip she woke the next morning saying it was the best night’s sleep she has ever had in that bed.  Gosh, why didn’t I do that sooner?

It reminded me of a similar story. The very first home I owned in California had recessed fluorescent tube lighting in the kitchen. The tubes were in the ceiling and concealed with decorative fluorescent light panels made of thin plastic. As the panels aged, the plastic got brittle, cracked, and yellow.   My kitchen had three such panels.  One afternoon I noticed one of the panels had a small, growing crack in the corner.  Once that caught my eye, I saw another panel had started to yellow a bit. It bothered me as much as it would bother any red-blooded perfectionist.  From that moment on, you and I both know where my eyes went every time I turned on the kitchen light. I couldn’t help it. Crooked pictures, dishes in the sink, leaves in the garage, or finding scissors in the wrong drawer in the kitchen were all things I could do something about, but fixing a light in the ceiling of my kitchen?  Let’s get real.  I assumed I needed a handyman or a home builder to take care of it.  I’m telling you, Fix-it Franny I am not.  And even if I could figure out how to fix it myself, I was sure it was going to cost me a week’s pay.  For me to cough up a week’s pay on a single mom’s salary would sting.  I just lived with it.  For months and months, I lived with it as I tried to ignore it, assuming I had no other choice.

One weekend my brother came to visit me. He was talking about all the cool projects he was doing in his own home four hours away. It was pretty impressive.  We just so happened to be sitting at the kitchen counter when I casually looked up and said to him, “So how much do you think it’s going to cost me to fix those lights?”  He laughed at me and said, “About ten bucks.”  What?  I thought he was pulling my leg.  He wasn’t.  We hopped in my car, drove the few blocks to Home Depot, and to my amazement the panels were about five dollars each.  I splurged and bought three of them.  I wanted them all to match, of course. It took him about 15 minutes to take the old ones down and replace them with brand-new ones.  For me, it made a huge difference.  Every time I turned on the kitchen light, I thought, “Why didn’t I do that sooner?”

This week, with the footboard experience, I remembered our small-stuff successes need to be celebrated as well as our big-stuff achievements. Think about it.  We have small victories every day and rarely acknowledge them.   If you’re like me, you’re quick to beat yourself up about the things you can’t do.  But honestly, how often are we thankful and appreciative of the things we can do and the things we can get accomplished?  Not only should our large successes bring us joy, but the small ones that we achieve every day can be a fantastic source of encouragement in our lives.

So take a minute to look around you. I bet you can find something small to do today that could encourage and remind you of how blessed you are.  I’m on my way to pick up some bright spring flowers to plant by my back door. 

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out. – Robert J. Collier

Wishing you joy and peace,

Lorrie