It’s the Little Things

He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

Luke 16:10

When I was a child, my mother used to quote this scripture. It would aggravate me, but always held true. Now that I am older and married, and have children of my own, I still find this scripture to be true. I’ll be the first to tell you that I am not always faithful with the little things, but I try very hard, and I try to teach my children the same concept.

Autism, is a HUGE responsibility. One I have never felt ready for. No one really is. With Autism also comes other BIG responsibilities; Finding the right doctors, the right medications, the right sensory diet, IEP’s, community awareness, and Bio-Medical Treatments. Those are all big responsibilities. They take up lots of time, and lots of money. Ironically even though these are big things, they are usually easy to remain faithful to. We will jump through hoops to get to those appointments, and take out loans to pay for various treatments. But, the little things are often overlooked.

I am guilty. Guilty of forgetting that it’s the little things that make the biggest impact. Like getting a dog, or building block towers, or ensuring that strong shirts are always washed and ready each morning. The little  things like, playing board games, and spinning in circles until we can’t stand up, or sitting close on the couch. Those things are so important, but often get looked over because we are stressed out trying to remain faithful to the big things.

I’m not saying that the big things aren’t important. If they weren’t important, they wouldn’t be big things. What I’m saying is that we sometimes get so stressed over the big things, that we push the little things aside. We forget to make time for them. Then things start getting harder, and we stop seeing results. Because, those little things, are really big things.

I think that’s the true lesson my mom was trying to teach me during my childhood. I have recently begun looking at my sons needs, and re-assessing what little things I need to treat as big things. A few I can think of off the top of my head seem really simple, but if you have a child with Autism, you know that sometimes these things are easy to put aside, because it takes more time, or we are so stressed about what we consider BIG things, that we just don’t think about these.

Small things like stopping to pick up a fishing thing. This seemed like a really bazaar treasure, but I later found out he wanted this for his PaPaw who has a current obsession with all things fishing. This small thing, was really a HUGE thing.

Taking a picture of these guys seemed trivial in the grand scheme of our bird study, but my abstract thinker saw how the heads looked like a heart, and went home to draw hearts, from looking at this picture. 

Taking the time to wrap this baby in a towel after every bath, and hold him tight. I knew he hated to be touched, and baths always seemed so stressful to him then, I would wrap him, he would fight, but then he was calm. This seemed so silly, and no one really understood why I took the time to do this. It seemed so stressful, and a waste of time. After about 2 weeks he would ask for the frog towel. After about 4 months, he no longer screamed during bath time. After about 6 months, he would snuggle on the couch. After about a year, he would seek out hugs. We didn’t know then about him having Autism. He only just came to us. But that little thing, became a HUGE thing. It’s still a HUGE thing after 4 years.

I know this post was a bit unconventional for an Autism Awareness post, but I really wanted to encourage you mothers who are living this everyday. I know how hard it is to drop the small stuff. By doing so we often miss out on the big stuff without even knowing it, because so often the small stuff, is really the big stuff.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up

Galatians 6:9