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Sunday Thought For The Day

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Creative Commons License photo credit: FotoRita [All­star maniac]

“Some­times when I con­sider what tremen­dous con­se­quences come from lit­tle things, I am tempted to think there are no lit­tle things.” ~ Bruce Barton

Lance writes sto­ries from his heart, aim­ing to inspire and moti­vate, as you align more fully with YOUR true peak. When he’s not here, you can find him hang­ing out with his fam­ily, rid­ing a bike, or just gen­er­ally act­ing goofy.   Sign up for the Thoughts from the Tree­house newslet­ter and get addi­tional inspi­ra­tion in your email inbox!
Lance Ekum
View all posts by Lance Ekum

Comments

  1. SnaggleTooth says:

    Small things can cer­tainly make or break my mood for the whole day– Great quote.
    With­out drops of water the bucket never fills up, either!
    See you at Jan­nies alot

  2. Mindful Mimi says:

    Great quote Lance. With­out lit­tle things there never can or will be big things. And if we don’t appre­ci­ate the lit­tle things, we won’t appre­ci­ate the big ones either. Really lis­ten­ing, say­ing thank you to some­one for some­thing small, spend­ing qual­ity time with your loved ones. If we don’t do such small things, we risk not being happy. And hap­pi­ness is the big thing isn’t it?
    Hope you have a great Sunday.

    Mind­ful Mimi´s last blog post..If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first cre­ate the uni­verse — Carl Sagan

  3. Jocelyn says:

    That’s true :-) we often under­es­ti­mate the value of lit­tle things. In The But­ter­fly Effect I dis­cussed in won­der how the flut­ter­ing of the small wings of a but­ter­fly could actu­ally affect the path of a Tor­nado from miles away! And that is sci­en­tific. Let us not under­es­ti­mate the day of lit­tle things, they might have a big impact after all.

  4. Evelyn Lim says:

    Col­lec­tively, lit­tle things can cre­ate major changes. I’d also like to think that if we all play our small part in cre­at­ing joy, the world will be much a bet­ter place. Thanks for the inspiration!!

    Eve­lyn Lim´s last blog post..Mouths Are Flapping

  5. Hi Lance

    I think that every­thing has con­se­quences and an impact. And we can never know how big that impact can be.

    Just think how impor­tant the small things are in a relationship…

    Juliet

    Life­Made­Great | Juliet´s last blog post..What Are You Thirst­ing For?

  6. Miz says:

    ok this makes me think of hor­ton :)

    A PERSONS A PERSON NO MATTER HOW SMALL.

    I look for­ward to these sun­day thoughts, Lance.

    Miz´s last blog post..We inter­rupt your Sat­ur­day for the Miz­Fit Com­menter O’The Month (DRUMROLL PLEASE):

  7. Agreed. I don’t think that there are lit­tle things at all. Every­thing counts — the rip­ples and vibra­tions of our actions and thoughts con­tinue on indef­i­nitely influ­enc­ing oth­ers accord­ing to how they are received.

    Tom Volkar / Delight­ful Work´s last blog post..Five Mood Enhancers for Busi­ness Success

  8. Lance says:

    @SnaggleTooth — Great way to look at it — it’s the drops of water (the things that might seem small) that if we keep doing, keep adding to the bucket — our bucket will over­flow (with goodness).

    @Mimi — Yes, if we are to think in terms of what is typ­i­cally thought of as big or lit­tle — hap­pi­ness would be one of those big things. And yet — how do we get that — it’s all the things we do, day in and day out (what might seem like smaller things) that get us to this thing that seems big­ger (hap­pi­ness, in this case). Great exam­ple Mimi!

    @Jocelyn — Another great exam­ple, thanks Joce­lyn! It really is the lit­tle things we do, that really aren’t so lit­tle, as they can lead to much good (or much bad) — from some­thing that seems so small and insignif­i­cant. Which falls right in line with “small and insignif­i­cant” not being so at all…

    @Evelyn — I believe you’re right on here, Eve­lyn! If we all did some “lit­tle” act of cre­at­ing joy, every one of us through­out the world — it would be a rev­o­lu­tion of mag­nif­i­cent pro­por­tions! Indi­vid­u­ally, this would all seem very small yet col­lec­tively, the small ges­tures of joy would have the abil­ity to change the world!

    @Juliet — The lit­tle things in rela­tion­ships — a great point, Juliet. It’s often­times, in the end, what makes or breaks a rela­tion­ship. Our “small” things — we really don’t know how big of an impact they truly can have…

    @Miz — That’s a great line, Miz­Fit — “A PERSONS A PERSON NO MATTER HOW SMALL.” Every­one has value, no mat­ter their age, stature, race, edu­ca­tion, etc, etc. Every­one counts…

    @Tom — Yes, the rip­ples from our actions — exactly the thought I was going with in the photo. What we do can have a much larger impact than we often think…

  9. CG Walters says:

    very true, Lance.…what appears a tiny thing may be just the point of a mighty ful­crum and lever, caus­ing major events…
    Also..
    “Tell me the weight of a snowflake,” a coal­mouse asked a wild dove.

    Noth­ing more than noth­ing,” the dove answered.

    In that case I must tell you a mar­velous story,” the coal­mouse said. “I sat on a fir branch close to the trunk when it began to snow. Not heav­ily, not in a rag­ing bliz­zard. No, just like in a dream, with­out any vio­lence at all. Since I didn’t have any­thing bet­ter to do, I counted the snowflakes set­tling on the twigs and nee­dles of my branch. Their num­ber was exactly 3,471,952. When the next snowflake dropped onto the branch–nothing more than noth­ing — as you say — the branch broke off.”

    Hav­ing said that, the coal­mouse ran away.

    bless­ings to you and your dear ones,
    CG

    CG Walters´s last blog post..Cel­e­braZine 14Jan09

  10. Jay says:

    Great quote! I agree, every­thing is impor­tant. Some of the biggest accom­plish­ments in life started with the with the small­est of steps.

    Jay´s last blog post..The Sun­day Ponder

  11. Lance,
    I decided to quit smok­ing at age 27 and began run­ning. Six months later my hus­band quit as well and joined in the run­ning. We also brought the 4 girls along to do the fun runs and wait for us at the fin­ish line.
    Today we have 1 run­ner, 2 walk­ers, one works out at the gym and one triath­lete, one who only occa­sion­ally works out. 2 are in sales for an ath­letic shoe com­pany… One Lit­tle Decision!

    Tess The Bold Life´s last blog post..12 Bold Ideas For a Happy Marriage

  12. Very Evolved says:

    The only lit­tle things that exist are those that we think are little.

    Good reminder that we almost are never able to see the big­ger pic­ture, but just because we can’t, doesn’t mean that huge con­se­quences doesn’t exist.

    Patrick

    Very Evolved´s last blog post..How to get what you want — Under­stand­ing the biol­ogy of object lust

  13. I love the image and how it fits with quote. The rip­ples that can come from a lit­tle com­ment or a big event sends waves through­out all our lives. I believe that every­thing is con­nected. When we real­ize that every­thing mat­ters that’s when we can live the life that ful­fills our needs.

    Karl — Work Happy Now´s last blog post..How Do You Define Success?

  14. Daphne says:

    Hi Lance,

    I love the magic of your Sun­day Thoughts. No lit­tle things — some­times one lit­tle com­ment on my blog, espe­cially in the early days, helped me keep going instead of giv­ing up… we just never know what our lit­tle actions might mean.

    Daphne´s last blog post..The Illu­sion of Right vs Wrong, Good vs Bad

  15. Arswino says:

    Hi Lance, I have a dif­fer­ent thought. I am a strong believer in lit­tle things and if we do the lit­tle things con­sis­tently, then they will bring tremen­dous con­se­quences, so there are always lit­tle things.
    I don’t know, maybe it is just dif­fer­ent words, but has a same mean­ing. What do you think?

    Arswino´s last blog post..3 Ways to Strengthen Perseverance

  16. What a pro­found thought and a great image to pair with the quote!!!

    Absolutely LOVE the “drops of water fill­ing the bucket” com­ment as well! Those seem­ingly insignif­i­cant drops do add up!!!

    Kathy @ Vir­tual Impax´s last blog post..Everything’s rel­a­tive… set­ting your life thermostat

  17. Great quote; I love the idea of Sun­day “thought of the day”

    chocolatecoveredvegan´s last blog post..The Adven­tures of Broc­coli Girl, Part Two

  18. Hi Lance

    There are no lit­tle things in life. Every­thing is made up of a lot of lit­tle things. So, I would say all lit­tle things are a part of some­thing BIG.

    Thank You,
    Gio­vanna Gar­cia
    Imper­fect Action is bet­ter than No Action

    Gio­vanna Garcia´s last blog post..Imper­fect Action is now on Alltop!

  19. Laurie says:

    Con­se­quences– I’ve been think­ing about them the last few days. As you know Lance, I have been to hell and back the past sev­eral years with some fam­ily issues. Now I am on the other side of that trip look­ing back on it and work­ing through the pain of the jour­ney. What have the con­se­quences been? I could rat­tle off a list of painful con­se­quences that paint me as a vic­tim and tug at everyone’s heart but I want to focus on the most impor­tant con­se­quence. God used my trip through hell to shine a light directed right at me. I was able to see this light and move toward it. Isn’t it amaz­ing that light shines the bright­est in the dark?

    God promises to make some­thing good from the bad and he really came through on this promise for me. He used all the pain and uncer­tainty in my life to show him­self to me in a pow­er­ful way and draw me closer to him. So now that I am in a much bet­ter place, I can thank God. Not so much for allow­ing me to travel such a ter­ror­iz­ing trip but that he did not waste my pain. So was it worth it? On this side of it I say yes. Dur­ing the pain, escap­ing the pain was fore­most on my mind and I don’t know if I could say yes then, I am too weak of a per­son. But know­ing where I am in my rela­tion­ship with God now verses before, I am thank­ful for God to use it and bring me closer to him.

  20. Rupal says:

    I always look for­ward to your Sun­day Quotes. This one hits a chord with me. I try to be aware of each and every expe­ri­ence and deci­sion, as we can learn so much from the lit­tle things that life gives us. As rou­tine takes us over, we go into auto-pilot and miss so many amaz­ing things around us. Thanks Lance!

    Rupal´s last blog post..Let’s do the twist!

  21. Davina says:

    Hi Lance. This is just like the rip­ple effect of blog­ging. One blog post can touch so many people.

    Davina´s last blog post..Self Help Me

  22. Lit­tle things can be step­ping stones and lit­tle things can grow beyond mea­sure. What may be lit­tle to me may be enor­mous to you, etc.

  23. Annette says:

    i really believe this! I think of how it even applies to my lit­tle life at home with the kids.….…..every lit­tle thing that occurs dur­ing the day is part of the puzzle.……if one thing is missing.……the rou­tine is off and affects the whole day.……not to men­tion everyone’s moods :)

    Annette´s last blog post..Just Because

  24. Lance says:

    @CG Wal­ters — I love the story you shared, CG! It fits this quote per­fectly. All those lit­tle things, even though them may seem minus­cule, do add up. And to have an effect — good or bad. Snowflakes are a great exam­ple of this…

    @Jay — That’s right! Who knows how much of an impact some of our steps will have — indeed, we may not know for a long time just how much of an effect they’ve had…

    @Tess — That’s a great exam­ple, Tess! How replac­ing a bad habit with a good habit can have such a pos­i­tive impact on oth­ers. Since I can relate very much to this story (I com­pete in triathlons and 5K runs) — I hope that I am pass­ing this on to my chil­dren. That some­day I’ll be able to look back, like you have, and real­ize what an effect this was — when I did start running/biking/swimming — being more active. One lit­tle deci­sion, so many ben­e­fits for so many people!

    @Very Evolved — What we think is lit­tle — good point Patrick. And so, even though we often won’t see the big pic­ture — we should act as though our choices, our actions have a much big­ger effect that what we see right in front of us… Great thought!

    @Karl — I agree, Karl, on just how well this image fits the quote. The rip­ple effect of what our choices and actions can do. Every­thing does mat­ter — so well said!

    @Daphne — Well, thank you Daphne! And that’s a great exam­ple, too. Com­ments on blogs. As some­one leav­ing the com­ment — we may just leave it and move on. How­ever, to the per­son receiv­ing it — that could be just the moti­va­tion they need to keep at it. Daphne, I love this exam­ple, and how it speaks to what we might do in our lives that might be just what some­one else really needed, at that moment…

    @Arswino — I think this is def­i­nitely the same mean­ing, Arswino. Some things are indeed smaller — yet the con­se­quences of them can be far reach­ing. And in that, they can be huge. Take the exam­ple above from Daphne. To one per­son, leav­ing a sim­ple com­ment is some­thing small — yet to the receiver, it can be huge beyond measure.

    @Kathy@Virtual Impax — The image and quote go so well together, don’t they! A small drop may not seem like much, yet, with enough of them — they do over­flow the bucket. Think of those lit­tle drops as, say, acts of kind­ness, and as you give it out (kind­ness), you con­tinue to fill your bucket — until it is vir­tu­ally over­flow­ing with kind­ness com­ing from you (as in, you’ve done it so much, it’s become sec­ond nature). And that is very awesome!

    @Chocolatecoveredvegan — Thanks, glad to hear you like this!!

    @Giovanna — “lit­tle things are a part of some­thing big” — that is a pow­er­ful way to look at this, Gio­vanna! And it really speaks to the idea that all that we do — really is part of some­thing more, some­thing greater, and some­thing worth doing it right for.

    @Laurie — I do know, Lau­rie, that life has had it’s share of very dif­fi­cult moments. It’s in those moments, and the things that YOU did, Lau­rie, that helped to get you beyond where you were at, and to where you are today. They may have seem incon­se­quen­tial at the time, they may have seemed tiny — yet they made a dif­fer­ence, a huge dif­fer­ence. Light does shine bright­est in the dark. And from what I know, that light really was com­ing from you — you were the beam your fam­ily needed. You helped to light the way. God does amaz­ing things — and YOU are a child of God — whom He loves very much! Was it worth it? It was worth it for you to get through these try­ing times. Yet, I don’t think we wish for these things to hap­pen. I don’t wish for them to hap­pen to any­one. Yet, life does some­times get a lit­tle topsy-turvy. And when it does, we do the best we can. And what we do will have pro­found con­se­quences for how the whole sit­u­a­tion works out. Lau­rie, I know you have han­dled these sit­u­a­tions with as much of the right choices as any­one could have. You are truly a light for your fam­ily, and that is one exam­ple of how the lit­tle things that you’ve done have really helped your fam­ily and you to get to where you are today. And when you look at your rela­tion­ship with God, and what that means to you — I also know this is some­thing that is such a strong con­nec­tion for you — and that is in part due to all the lit­tle (and not so lit­tle) choices you made dur­ing more dif­fi­cult times. God loves you very much, Laurie…

    @Rupal — That’s a great obser­va­tion, Rupal. Being on “auto pilot” can cause us to miss so much around us — the lit­tle things that maybe we take for granted. And yet, tak­ing time to stop and really expe­ri­ence, really “be” — can have huge effects on our lives, and the lives of those around us. Thanks, Rupal!

    @Davina — Yes, awe­some exam­ple Davina. We write words, and they may seem like they are not worth pub­lish­ing, not worth sub­mit­ting. And yet, those words can be just what some­one needs to hear, some­thing that some­one has been search­ing for.…

    @Stacey/Create A Bal­ance — Exactly! What’s lit­tle to one per­son, can be huge to some­one else — and that’s a very pow­er­ful thought — and can have such far-reaching impact. Thank you, Stacey!

    @Annette — As a mother, you have the oppor­tu­nity to really set your chil­dren into a cer­tain direc­tion. And a lot of that is done by all the lit­tle things that hap­pen day in and day out. Con­tinue to love and care for your fam­ily, Annette. You are giv­ing them all the step­ping stones to a great life ahead of them!

  25. Marelisa says:

    Hi Lance: This reminds me of the rhyme that says in part “for want of a horse­shoe nail a king­dom was lost”. Small actions can def­i­nitely result in large consequences.

  26. Helene Moore says:

    Hi Lance,
    It is amaz­ing that light shines through the dark­ness. The lit­tle things loom so large when we are con­fronted with stress, a diag­no­sis, divorce, death.
    Yet, later, those large things that loomed so big, become small rip­ples in life.
    And through it, we might dis­cover some­thing about our­selves, or we might write a book, as I did, or find some­thing that ignites our pas­sion, as I did also.
    Keep love and kisses in your life. Helene
    I just started read­ing your blog, and I love it.

  27. Hi Lance — I love how you matched the “rip­ple affect” with the quote. It’s per­fect. This is another great reminder of what we do/say often has a greater affect than we can even begin to imagine.

    Bar­bara Swafford´s last blog post..Blog­ging Sup­port Forums: Do Your Home­work First

  28. bobbi says:

    It’s all in the small things!!!!

    bobbi´s last blog post..Sunday’s Sad News

  29. Absolutely — there are no small things, really. It’s all part of the plan, no mat­ter how large or small. It’s like the say­ing “big­ger isn’t always bet­ter”. Yet in our minds that is what we often believe.

    Appre­ci­ate every lit­tle, big and medium thing, moment, or person.

  30. Very thought pro­vok­ing quote … I think the sen­sa­tion­al­ism of the media and video games have encour­aged us to live in pur­suit of the ‘big­gie’ moments of life, but there are FAR more mean­ing­ful moments in between the biggies.

    Tam­mie @ Are You For Real?´s last blog post..How To Use Blessings?

  31. Tremen­dous rewards also come from lit­tle things. I think the most impor­tant thing about the quo­ta­tion is to remem­ber how impor­tant details and snall ges­tures are. Espe­cially for our loved one’s.

    Gen­naro @ Endur­ing Wanderlust´s last blog post..8 Pres­i­den­tial Inau­gu­ra­tion Loca­tions To Visit

  32. What a great quote and its so true. Noth­ing can be con­sid­ered “lit­tle” since it all has the poten­tial to snow­ball into some­thing big.

    Suc­cess Factors´s last blog post..Poland Spring Case Study: How to Craft Per­sua­sive Messages

  33. Cricket says:

    Won­der­ful quote. I just had this con­ver­sa­tion with my teen today. I was try­ing to explain to him that no mat­ter how small some­thing may seem to him to oth­ers it might be big. Treat all things the same and you will never let your­self or oth­ers down.

    Cricket´s last blog post..Oh where have I been?

  34. Lance says:

    @Marelisa — Hi Mare! That rhyme is so fit­ting here! Small actions really can have con­se­quences beyond what we think. How often do we for­get that?

    @Helene — Great point, Helene. When we have some added stresses in our life (death, divorce, fam­ily con­flict, etc) — the lit­tle things can become large quickly. How we deal with these “things” can really alter the course of where our life direc­tion takes us. To use these for good, to be led to new pas­sions — that is good that can come from seem­ingly bad sit­u­a­tions. Glad to have you here, Helene! Come back often…

    @Barbara — Hi Bar­bara! That’s what I thought too — the rip­ple effect worked so well with this quote. And, yes, we can’t always com­pre­hend just how far-reaching the effects of what we say or do can be. And that’s a good rea­son right there to act and speak with integrity…

    @Bobbi — Yes it is…

    @Stacey Ship­man — Right. We think, too often, that it’s the big, the grandiose, the great — things that are bet­ter. Yet, “big­ger isn’t always bet­ter” is a per­fect mantra here. Small things can have as large an impact as can things that are much big­ger. It all matters…things, moments, people…

    @Tammie — Great point here, in that those “big” moments, though we may have them, are not every­day occur­rences. And it’s the moments in between these big ones that really have an impact — the smaller things that hap­pen day in and day out.

    @Gennaro — That’s right, Gen­naro — it is about remem­ber­ing just how impor­tant these smaller moments are — and how much they mean. And a great reminder of just how impor­tant this is for our loved ones — when we start to over­look the smaller daily things, the ges­tures, the rela­tion­ships with the ones we love really can begin to slip…

    @Success Fac­tors — Just like CG said up above, one snowflake, when com­bined with many, becomes a force to be reck­oned with. Thanks Derek!

    @Cricket — Tammy, what a good con­ver­sa­tion to have. I won­der, when we have these con­ver­sa­tions, how much is being retained. Maybe if we say it enough, and more than that, if we “do” it enough, the point will get across. Any­way, I think that’s great — you tak­ing the time to have this talk.

  35. Evita says:

    Excel­lent Lance…all things can be as big or as small as we make them, but what never changes is that they all have con­se­quences. And again to some that same con­se­quence may be a big deal and to oth­ers a very small deal.

    No mat­ter what our actions always impact some­one out there and that is enough to seri­ously con­sider each of our actions before fol­low­ing through.

    P.S. Been a lit­tle slow with writ­ing on Beings and web vis­its in gen­eral, but I have just fin­ished a book today that has con­sumed all of my free time these past 2 weeks — will be writ­ing about it tomor­row, hope­fully ;)

    Evita´s last blog post..Evolv­ing Beings was Tagged

  36. kathy says:

    Lance
    It’s rarely the big things that we believe make the dif­fer­ence in our lives. It’s the mul­ti­tude of tiny expres­sions of love to one another that mat­ter and add up over the course of our lives.

    kathy´s last blog post..Stop Com­plain­ing! Can you make it to 21 days?

  37. Diane says:

    Do small things well.…you never really know!

    I spent my day hik­ing near the beau­ti­ful ocean its vast­ness its abun­dance of these water droplets. Today the whales were pass­ing by, a spout here and there every­one was so joy­fully watch­ing them on their jour­ney to the south­ern waters. Later as I sit there soak­ing up the mist­ing air next to the waves crash­ing near me and watch­ing the sparkling water droplets of the waves that glis­tened in the sun­set of this day. I sat in grate­ful won­der and gave thanks for this day to God for its nour­ish­ing me. Bright and smil­ing faces sur­roundied this joy­ful day.

    Water drops in the bucket as vast as the oceans we may be filled at times.…to share , to give, to extend to each that touches us in our lives…thank you so much for your Sun­day Thought of the Day for today, Lance! You are always help­ing me to keep the flow­ing ele­ments on this day and even more. Thank you!

    God Bless!
    Diane

  38. Jennifer says:

    Well, Lance I do have to say that this quote does go VERY well with a con­sis­tent theme of yours. One les­son that I’m still learn­ing is the impor­tance of the “lit­tle things.” It’s a VERY valu­able les­son that I’m learn­ing from you and your writ­ings and it’s mak­ing an impact on my life. It’s the lit­tle things that make up the big things that make up our life — whether good or bad. When we choose good — the lit­tle things can make a huge splash in this world. Thank you Lance for teach­ing such impor­tant lessons like this!

    Jennifer´s last blog post..Do Bad Things Hap­pen to Good People?

  39. There are no small things.
    There are no big things.
    There are no things.
    It is that it is.

    buddhaofhollywood´s last blog post..Enlight­en­ment 103

  40. Angel says:

    Yikes. This one is dan­ger­ously pow­er­ful. The idea that even the small­est things can affect us in a big way is a bit scary. It makes me want to be more care­ful in how I treat peo­ple, what I say to them, and how act towards them. I love Sundays!

  41. Henie says:

    Oooooh, Lance, this is great! Sort of the same mes­sage as my “Lit­tle Big Thing” post and my “Small in the Big” post so I am com­pletely in sync…woohoo! Thank you for the beau­ti­ful quote!:0)

    It’s the lit­tle things that make me feel BIG!” ~Henie~

  42. miruspeg says:

    From lit­tle things big things grow, that is what mostly hap­pens in life.
    Occa­sion­ally some things/people don’t grow or blos­som.
    Think­ing small, we may stay lit­tle.
    Thought-provoking as usual Lance.
    Cheers
    Peggy

  43. Lance says:

    @Evita — Our actions do impact oth­ers, great point Evita. And to take that one step fur­ther, so do our inac­tions — which is a choice we make also — and one that can seem small, yet be huge to some­one else. It all has con­se­quences — and that’s worth think­ing about…

    @Kathy — That’s so well said, Kathy. It’s the lit­tle things, over time, that really do add up to so much more than the few big­ger things. And they make all the dif­fer­ence in our lives, too, how we really look at the seem­ingly lit­tle things, the expres­sions of love…

    @Diane — First off, Diane, I want to let you know what a won­der­ful pic­ture you’ve painted in my mind — of the ocean and all its beauty. So large and expan­sive, yet made up of drops of water — not insignif­i­cant at all! It is the small things we do, day in and day out — that make such a dif­fer­ence. Thank you for your con­tin­ued vis­its, and thank you for your very kind and gen­er­ous words today. They are all very much appreciated.

    @Jennifer — Thank you, very much, Jen­nifer. And a great point — the lit­tle things — they can be good or they can be bad. Both have con­se­quences, although those con­se­quences can be good or bad as well. Choose good! I know you do! And I love how you’ve said that — “choose good — the lit­tle things can make a huge splash in this world!”. This is so true, and the image I’m get­ting in my head is one of much joy and fun (with a big splash being made!)!!

    @Buddhaofhollywood — Life is what it is — good point. Size is all rel­a­tive, as what one thing means to me, might be com­pletely dif­fer­ent than what it means to you. Good thought to think about…

    @Angel — It can be a bit scary, yes. Yet, it can also be extremely reward­ing when we really think about what our actions can do. This is espe­cially true for how we treat oth­ers — what seems small or insignif­i­cant to us can be so big for some­one else. Thanks for com­ing by today Angel!

    @Henie — I’ll have to check out what you wrote about this…you’ve piqued my curios­ity! And, again — thanks for adding one of your quotes to this — in the lit­tle things we do, espe­cially, I think, for oth­ers — we begin to feel big too!

    @Miruspeg — Hi Peggy. Read­ing what you’ve writ­ten, I think of a seed. What starts as a seed, can grow into some­thing much big­ger — take a tree for instance. Like life, the seeds of good­ness that we plant really can grow into some­thing much big­ger. I love that thought!

  44. Hi Lance,

    I love this quote and feel it can be another call to con­scious­ness. It is very easy to over­look the lit­tle things if you are walk­ing around on auto-pilot. But those lit­tle things might need to be noticed and acted upon for the next step to be made clear.…

    It also made me think of grat­i­tude.… Some­times peo­ple don’t take the time to be grate­ful for those lit­tle things. But in that brief moment of acknowl­edg­ment you will not only feel a lot bet­ter about the world around you but will be open­ing your heart up for even big­ger things to come into your life.

    Thank you Lance. Always nice read­ing your Sun­day quotes! :-)
    Love, Jenny

    Jenny Mannion´s last blog post..Cirkla — A Direc­tory for the Body Mind Spirit and Planet

  45. Lit­tle things done over time can def­i­nitely bring some big results.
    That pic­ture goes per­fectly with the quote. That one lit­tle drop effects every­thing around it.

    Brod­er­ick Allen´s last blog post..Per­sis­tence

  46. Mark says:

    Won­der­ful quote Lance! Thanks!

  47. Hey Lance, I thought you selected the per­fect pic­ture in line with the quote! It really fit the whole mes­sage. Indeed, some­times it’s really the lit­tle things that mat­ter and rip­ple out to cre­ate a whole chain of other events which we are not even aware of at the on-start. That’s one of the rea­sons why I find life so amaz­ing :D It’s so full of surprises!

    Celes | EmbraceLiving.Net´s last blog post..6 Impor­tant Rea­sons Why You Should Set Goals

  48. I remind myself of this every time I take a lit­tle step towards my goal of being published.

    It takes a word
    a page
    a chap­ter
    a book.

    Jewel/Pink Ink´s last blog post..Why Pink (Ink)

  49. LisaNewton says:

    All the lit­tle things make up one big thing. And to accom­plish the big thing, start with some­thing little.

    This is the advice I’ve given myself and my chil­dren. When a task seems over­whelm­ing, just start small and slowly chip away at it. Soon enough, the big thing starts to look much smaller.

    Thanks for the great quote, and excel­lent pic­ture rep­re­sen­ta­tion, Lance.

    LisaNewton´s last blog post..Walkin’ Santa Mon­ica Boule­vard in Bev­erly Hills

  50. Liara Covert says:

    Cause and effect teaches that every action has an equal and oppo­site reac­tion. Of course, human minds do not always have insight into the nature of effects sim­ply because peo­ple do not truly grasp under­ly­ing causes. This reminds us how much learn­ing remains to be done. Ah–the time­less joy of explor­ing a mystery!

    Liara Covert´s last blog post..5 Myths shat­tered about death

  51. Mark says:

    Lance,
    Very insight­ful quote. Yes, it is true, all things effect us in both lit­tle and grand ways. Every move­ment we make, every thought we have cre­ates a rip­ple in time and space.

    Mark´s last blog post..Beliefs and Experiences

  52. Sagan says:

    Beau­ti­ful! All the lit­tle things con­tribute to the big stuff. So it’s true… there really are no small things. Love these quotes.

    Sagan´s last blog post..Life Lessons: Skat­ing and Sugar

  53. Wow Lance, I have been pon­der­ing about this quote since I read it yes­ter­day. Except for the word con­se­quences this quote makes me think of the lit­tle things that we can do for peo­ple. Small kind ges­tures that when paid for­ward could pos­si­bly change someone’s life! Show­ing some­one that they mat­ter, a sim­ple smile and let­ting some­one go ahead of you in line.

    On the flip side, con­se­quences con­jures up bad things, cut­ting off some­body while dri­ving because your in such a hurry and can’t be both­ered to let some­one out in front of you..seemingly incon­se­quen­tial, but if paid for­ward could have the poten­tial to ruin somebody’s life.

    Def­i­nitely some­thing to think about!

    Have a great day, Lance!

    Natalia Burleson´s last blog post..Dern Veg­gies! Update week 3 goals.

  54. Caroline says:

    There are no small things…now this is food for thought!

    Caroline´s last blog post..Who are you?

  55. Jeremy says:

    You’ve just inspired me to become more ana­lyt­i­cal than I already am, so much for “not sweat­ing the small stuff”

    J

    Jeremy´s last blog post..Barack Obama is Not Your Messiah

  56. Lance says:

    @Jenny Man­nion — Hi Jenny! It IS easy to over­look the lit­tle things (I do it way too often). The whole con­cept of grat­i­tude related to this is a won­der­ful look at what can be. In appre­ci­at­ing the lit­tle things in our lives, we do open our­selves up for great things when they come.

    @Broderick — The idea of “done over time” is pow­er­ful — lit­tle can become big with the pas­sage of time.

    @Mark/Mark Sali­nas — Thanks Mark!

    @Celes — This pic­ture works so well, doesn’t it! The rip­ple effect of one small drop, or one small thing, can have huge effects as it goes out beyond where it orig­i­nally started. Life is full of sur­prises, and we never know what really is around that next corner…

    @Jewel — That’s great, Jewel! It starts with a sin­gle word. Indeed, it has for every pub­lished book. You’re get­ting there, one step at a time — and that’s very cool!

    @LisaNewton — Start­ing small, a great con­cept to get­ting toward some­thing much big­ger. And a great mes­sage to pass on to your children…

    @Liara — Grasp­ing under­ly­ing causes — or — see­ing the big­ger pic­ture in the small day to day things. This is not always easy to under­stand. It can seem abstract, that which we can’t always visu­al­ize. Work­ing toward that end, though, can be a very reward­ing experience.

    @Mark/ToBeMe — Thanks Mark! And, yes, look­ing at it this way — every­thing we do, every move we make, causes a rip­ple. Where that rip­ple will go, we can’t really know for sure.

    @Sagan — Yes, the things we think are small…really are just part of some­thing much bigger…always.

    @Natalia — I under­stand com­pletely where you’re com­ing from on the word con­se­quence. That does have a neg­a­tive tone to it. The truth is, every­thing we do has an effect on some­thing else. Kind ges­tures have ways of mak­ing peo­ple feel good in pos­si­bly very great ways. And then there’s the flip side — the things we might do that are “bad” and still small — and they can have large “bad” effects for somebody/something. Great point Natalia. Thanks for shar­ing that here…

    @Caroline — Yes, that is def­i­nitely food for thought…what are we doing as we go about our day? And what might the effect really be? Good ques­tions to ask ourselves…

    @Jeremy — “Don’t sweat the small stuff” — hmm…interesting thought Jeremy. If it all counts, maybe we do need to sweat some of these small things a bit more. At least, lis­ten for a real answer on what we should do… This is some­thing worth pon­der­ing, thanks!

  57. Chase March says:

    This is the quote that started my com­mon­place book. It was the first time I saw a quote other than a song lyric that I felt I had to keep and remember.

    Thanks for shar­ing. I share my com­mon­place book col­lec­tion on my sis­ter blog, Thought­ful Cacoph­ony. Check it out if you get a chance.

    Chase March´s last blog post..Revi­sion is Tough

  58. Jenny says:

    It’s amaz­ing how the lit­tlest thing can have major con­se­quences isn’t it. It’s kind of funny, or rather sad that peo­ple don’t real­ize this. I sup­pose that most peo­ple don’t really real­ize this sim­ple point, but I wish they would. You never know when just say­ing “Hey!” could poten­tially turn their day around and save them from mak­ing a ter­ri­ble choice.

    Jenny´s last blog post..My Christ­mas Spirit

  59. Maya says:

    Wow Lance — look at the com­ments — a lit­tle quote and you have a sea of com­ments …is the quote “lit­tle” after all? You have enough mate­r­ial to write a paper right here :) — you and your blog is a per­fect reflec­tion of the quote !

    Maya´s last blog post..Prepar­ing to Believe in Your­self: The Sci­ence of Ditchiness

  60. Yes, and all things mat­ter, in the universe’s interconnectedness.

    Jan­nie Funster´s last blog post..And the ukulele song win­ner is…

  61. Carla says:

    This is so true. Some of the small­est deci­sions can have tremen­dous con­se­quences in your life. Though you don’t wan to make a big deal out of every lit­tle thing, we do have to con­sider our choices in life.

    Carla´s last blog post..Clear­ing Out

  62. Lance says:

    @Chase — This is such a pow­er­ful quote — it says so much to what the lit­tle things, how impor­tant they truly are. I’ll be over to check out what you’ve got!

    @Jenny — Great exam­ple — it can just be a word, a sen­tence, a smile, a look — that can make all the dif­fer­ence in the world. We never know just how much what we do affects others…

    @Maya — You’re right — this quote isn’t lit­tle at all! And the com­ments prove that! Thank you, Maya, for this, and for all your con­tin­ued support.

    @Jannie — Right! There is this inter­con­nect­ed­ness — among all things…and with that, every­thing mat­ters. Everything.

    @Carla — You’re right, of course, we can’t spend our days mak­ing a big deal out of every­thing. What we can do is act in accor­dance with our heart and soul. And then move on, know­ing we have acted in accor­dance with our true selves. Thank you, Carla, for this thought today…

  63. Ian Peatey says:

    I believe that I and each and every­one of us are a result of the sum of bil­lions and bil­lions of lit­tle deci­sions and events made by every one of our ances­tors. If any sin­gle one of those had not hap­pened then I would not be here today. I could not have been con­ceived on any other moment than the pre­cise moment on which I was con­ceived. And that moment was the com­ing together of an incon­ceiv­ably large num­ber of small steps made by an incon­ceiv­ably large num­ber of people.

    Indeed there are no lit­tle things.

    Ian Peatey´s last blog post..Insults, non­vi­o­lence and fish

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