*Posted by Kirk Spencer

I have a lime green strip of paper pasted around my right wrist.  It’s not too tight.  It’s not too loose.  And the edges match perfectly where it is pasted together so there are not pointed corners to poke into my skin.  I got it last night at a seminar series I have been attending.   Every Tuesday night, for six months, great men-of-God from all over the world speak about the great things of God.  That’s where I got the paper bracelet.  It proves I paid.  But now it’s all wrinkled and worthless, so I’m going to tear it off and throw it away.   As I do, I remember the person who put in on—every week, faithful behind the desk, taking the money and attaching the paper bracelets—so attentive and careful to make sure it was not too tight and not too loose and that the edges met perfectly (not an easy thing to do) so there were no pointed corners to poke into the sensitive skin on the underside of the wrist.  Then this person—every week—would look up at me and smile one of those I-really-care-about-you smiles; and I knew it’s true, because I have owned and worn 7 perfect paper bracelets to prove it.  Such faithfulness reminded me of something I had forgotten: “Everything we do is just an excuse to love people.”

So I tore off the bracelet and threw it away, but I kept the smiles.

A little thing is a little thing.  But faithfulness in little things is a big thing. ~ John Chrysostom (Golden Mouth) 400 A.D.