On Praying for the "Little Things"

IT is a good thing to have fixed seasons for lifting up the heart to God, not merely the appointed hours of prayer, but a momentary act before and after meals, beginning any occupation, entering into society, leaving the house, etc. Especially it is a help to make such brief acts after having said or done anything either wrong or foolish, after any trifling vexation or disappointment, when the spirit feels, it may be, wounded and desolate, or when one's vanity is annoyed at having been guilty of some little folly or unseemliness. Sometimes we are more really troubled and sore at trifles of this sort than at far weightier things. But if all such things were met with a momentary uplifting of the heart to God, all these little frailties and worries would tend to mould the character more and more to God's pattern, and they would assuredly lose their sting; for he who thinks much of God will daily think less of himself.

Mrs. Henrietta Louisa Sidney Lear (1824-1896)