Tiny

Hank loves when we sing to him.

Songs get us through wrestling match diaper changes and messy mealtimes.

Songs wake him up in the morning and put him to sleep at night.

His favorites are the ones with actions.

He remembers them best and loves them most.

He can “tease Mr. Alligator”, make the sun come out, and say “no no no!” to the monkeys or monsters jumping on the bed.

I love to watch his face as he listens.

I can see the light in his eyes when he recognizes the song.

I can see him realize he knows exactly what to do.

Then I watch his sweet little hands repeat the actions just in time.

He gets better at it every day.

And he never gets tired of the tiny songs or the little actions.

As he grows, I think he’ll find that life is full of tiny songs and little actions, the trick is not to get tired of them.

Alma taught a group of humble Zoramites about faith in Jesus Christ (Alma 32-33). 

He picked a tiny seed to teach them.

A tiny seed that looks nothing like what it will become.

A tiny seed that would require little, repeated steps to care for it over time, until it finally bore fruit.

That’s faith.

It’s the tiny songs. It’s the little actions.

Gideon taught me that too.

Gideon hid behind a winepress one day threshing wheat.

He was hiding from Israel’s current enemy, the Midianites.

The Lord called them grasshoppers because they consumed everything in sight, leaving the Israelites desolate and afraid.

The bondage was humbling and hard to bear.

In response to Israel’s prayers the Lord sent an angel to Gideon.

You know, the young man hiding behind the winepress.

“The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour” the angel said to the crouching man (Judges 6:12).

Gideon was not so sure.

He did not feel mighty.

In fact, he felt hurt. He felt forgotten. He felt small.

He told the angel how he felt. He told him how he thought the Lord had forgotten them. How He must not care as much now as He did for them when they were in bondage to the Egyptians. “..why then is all this befallen us? And where be all his miracles..” Gideon asked.

The Lord responded.

“Thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?”

Wait.

Not Gideon.

Not the man hiding behind the winepress.

“Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”

The least. Tiny. The smallest.

The Lord’s reply?

“Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man” (Judges 6:16).

So, Gideon gathers an army. 32,000 people band together to help free the Children of Israel.

The Lord’s response?

That’s too many. Send those who are afraid home.

22,000 leave.

That’s 10,000 left.

The Lord’s response?

That’s too many.

He sends them to the river’s edge to get a drink. Those who drank water from their cupped hands were put in one group, and those that knelt and put their face in the water were put in another.

300 drank from their hands. 9,700 made up the other group.

Guess which army the Lord chose.

The least. Tiny. The smallest.

300.

300 against the grasshopper Midianites? An army so vast they couldn't be numbered?

In the dead of night, Gideon and his 300 surrounded the Midianites.

And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers.

And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do.

When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon (Judges 7:16-18).

And so, they did it.

On Gideon’s signal they threw down their pitchers. The trumpets and the shouts of the 300 men woke the Midianites and caused so much confusion the grasshoppers fought each other.

When they finally realized what was happening the army of the Midianites retreated.

And so, the army of 300 with only trumpets, pitchers, and lanterns, freed the Children of Israel.

How did they do it?

Well, they didn’t.

It was by the sword of the Lord.

Why such a small army?

Why Gideon?

The Least. Tiny. The smallest.

So we will never forget who actually does the defending here.

It’s because we all hide behind the winepress.

And the Lord sends angels to remind us that He has “trodden the winepress alone” so we don’t have to (Isaiah 63:3).

And then the Lord takes even less than what we have to offer, and He makes it enough.

He makes it obvious that it’s Him.

So do the least, the tiny, the smallest.

Even if you are the least, the tiny, the smallest.

Remember the Lord fights for us.

He always has.

Maybe that is why I am so happy.