PB and Love

Joseph was our smallest baby, and although he grew and was healthy, he never got the rolls of fat my other little ones did. But Joseph was the hungriest baby and child I have ever known. We don't know where he puts it.

When he started kindergarten, it only took me a day or two to learn that we needed to start making lunch early so he would have time to eat before he caught the afternoon kindergarten bus. The first day went something like this:

Joseph ate happily (and messily) and then said, “Mom, can I have another sandwich?”

“Really, Joseph? You've had two big sandwiches already.”

He shrugged and said he was still hungry, and I got the peanut butter and jam out again and made him another. He finished it off, drinking another glass of milk and leaving the peel from the banana he'd eaten too. Then I helped him wash his hands and face and he put his homework in his backpack and we walked to the bus stop, with three-year-old Elisabeth beside us and Adam in the stroller. We waved and said good-bye when he climbed on the kindergarten bus, and then we turned back for home.

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Several years ago, some neighbors invited our family to their house for a backyard cookout. We were happy to be included, but we were a little concerned about our kids, who were picky about some foods and didn't eat meat. Our host assured us that he and his wife would find something they liked.

We arrived at our neighbors' home and sat at a table in their backyard. While her husband cooked burgers and hot dogs at the grill, our friend came from the house and asked what she could prepare for us. Would we like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?

Absolutely.

She went back to the house, but returned a few minutes later to ask a question: “White bread, or whole wheat?”

The responses were divided. She smiled and went back to the house. But she was back soon, with another question: “Crunchy peanut butter or creamy?”

“Oh, really,” I protested, “you don't need to worry about it. They'll eat whatever you give them.”

She listened to my kids as they stated their preference and went back to the house. But not for long. She came back to ask “Strawberry jam or grape?”

It was quite a walk from the house to the table were we sat, and I felt awkward about putting her out this way. But she – and her whole family – were so cheerful about it. And after we ate we played some fun games in the backyard and went home very happy.

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My ten-year battle with cancer has had its ups and downs. On one particular day I was very sick – lying in bed, feeling miserable. My husband was busy with our kids and the day's work, but he checked on me regularly. At one point when I felt so bad I wasn't sure I could go on, Wes poked his head into the room and asked me if I needed anything.

“A resurrected body,” I answered. It seemed to me that nothing else would help me.

My sweet husband assured me that I would get one of those eventually, but for now would I settle for a peanut butter and jam sandwich? I nodded, and he brought me one, and I ate it. And you know, I felt a little better.

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Peanut butter sandwiches are not glamorous or elegant. They aren't expensive, and they aren't very hard to make. They are one of the small, insignificant things in ours lives that we don't think about much.

But small things make a difference. The love and service of a mother for her hungry child, the kindness and cheerfulness of a kind and generous neighbor, and the compassion and care of a man for his ailing wife.

Those aren't such little things.

And there are smarter people than me who think so too:

"Life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles and kindness, and small obligations given habitually, are what preserve the heart and secure comfort." (Humphry Davy)

"And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things." (Book of Mormon;1 Nephi 16:29)

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

So go ahead, do something little. It might turn out to be bigger than you thought.