Little Things

"Sometimes, when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things....
I am tempted to think....
There are no little things."  attributed to Bruce Barton

So, earlier this month, as I was getting ready to head out of town and go on one of my many trips for the Postal Service, I was trying to get everything ready.  I wanted to take the old green Volvo.  I was going to be putting a lot of miles on whichever car I took, and would rather put the miles on the older car. 
The brilliantly flashing, red check engine light was on (again) and it wouldn't go off.  I was not having a good feeling about taking that car.  I decided to make John drive it because it didn't feel right to me.  He drove it to work for a couple of days and told me everything would be fine.  (famous last words!) 
So, I got everything packed, but I could not shake the feeling that I should NOT take that car.  Now, I don't always have feelings that are that strong about things, and when I do, I tend to doubt them a little and it makes me question myself and why I am feeling that way.  I thought, "no, everything is fine, you are just worrying for nothing!  You get better mileage on this car and besides that, it has air conditioning!"  Now, air conditioning is a big plus at that moment because I was driving to a hot part of the Arizona Desert, and the truck that I like to drive has been having air conditioning problems and usually won't cool the air once I am off the mountain where I live.
The night before I was to leave, I told John that I really was not comfortable driving the Volvo and I was going to use the truck.  The next evening, long after I left in the truck, John was on his way to work at the school in the Volvo when it completely died in the middle of the road.  It just stopped.  John called his friend Val who came and tried to change the fuel filter to no avail.  John had to call a tow truck and have the car towed to our house where he could work on it with Val.  They tried a couple of different things to get it running, but none of the easy things worked.  Come to find out, after much testing and labor, it needed a new fuel pump.
Now, you should know that I had been having a few issues with the car.  The check engine light likes to come on and annoy me and we can't seem to make it go off.  I am really not fond of those annoying red lights.  But, everytime John looked at it and took it in to get it evaluated, the light just comes back on.  So, mostly we just have to let it be red and ignore it.  I thought at first that the light that came on in the car this time was the same one and that I could just ignore it until I got back.  But, I just couldn't shake the feeling that I needed to drive a different car.
Good thing too!  If I had insisted on taking the green monster out into the desert, I would likely have ended up somewhere on the open highway between Holbrook and Kingman.  If you have ever driven on that road, you would know there is not much out there in the way of services and help for stranded motorists.  There is a very good chance that I would have been stuck with no easy solutions for getting the car fixed.
I just thought that this was a little thing that didn't really mean anything.  But the spirit gave me that "little warning" or "hey, pay attention" whisper to my soul.
Haven't we all felt that way at one time or another in our lives?

It makes me wonder how many other little warning lights that I might have ignored in my life?  How many things have I thought about doing but it seemed too little or unimportant to bother with at the time?
Maybe a feeling that I needed to call a friend or neighbor, but I had just seen them at church yesterday.
Maybe I needed to call my sister, but there wasn't any real reason for the call, so what am I going to say?
Maybe I felt like I needed to visit one of my ward sisters, but I already went by earlier that month.
Sometimes, the answer can seem like such a very little thing.

I think we all need to learn to follow those promptings.  It might just be nothing, but than again, it might just be everything to someone who needs you that day.  Sometimes it is so hard to know if the prompting is coming from within myself, or from Him.
I believe that the Lord probably communicates with most of us far more than we acknowledge.  We are tempted to believe that it is just our own thoughts, concerns and doubts.  But what if it really is from Him?  I love to remember one of my favorite scriptures in the Old Testament:
And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord.  And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind and earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:
And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire:  and after the fire a still small voice.
1 Kings 19:11-12

The Lord uses us to answer the prayers and pleas of others if we will only learn how to listen.  He does take the time to communicate with us.  He does let us know what he needs us to do.  So, if something seemingly unimportant, but naggingly persistent comes to mind....maybe we should just take the time to listen, or call, or go visit, or write, or do whatever the prompting is telling us to do.  And than see what happens.

"If you think you are too small to be effective, than you have never been alone in the dark with a mosquito!"