I like to photograph signs. I have amassed a bit of a collection from many different places. Some signs make so much sense that one wonders why someone even needed to place it, while other signs defy explanation. Some signs are informational; others, directional. Regardless of a sign’s position or purpose, most all of them hold one thing in common – people ignore them.

Many restaurants sport directional signs indicating which driveway is the entrance and which is the exit. One such restaurant in Tifton can lay claim to the most often ignored signs. In order to “cheat” their way into the drive-thru line, customers often enter through the exit portal, causing a logjam of traffic in the parking lot. I am sure they think it is quite OK for everyone else to wait so that they can save themselves 50 yards of driving around the building.

While I know that in the grand scheme of things, ignoring the directional signs at a restaurant (or any other sign for that matter) seems inconsequential, the practice reflects a deeper, more insidious attitude that pervades our modern cultures thinking. We have no regard for the “small things.” We pay little attention to the details, cutting corners and hoping to get away with neglecting the less obvious particulars of life.

We all have experienced diminished product quality, lax customer service, and empty promises. These stand as convicting proof of our inattention to details. The Bible, however, teaches us the importance of faithfulness to the “little things.”

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ – Matthew 25:21, 23

“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.” – Luke 16:10

Let me encourage you to be careful to mind the minutiae in your life. While we wait for the grand events in life, we lose sight of the fact that how we manage our routines will determine our success or failure. A brick mason tediously lays one small single brick after another in the process of building a wall. Each individual brick may seem small and insignificant when compared to the completed wall, but the mason must take great care to lay each brick, one by one, with precision and care. If one brick is mislaid, the entire wall will be marred. So also, our lives consist of several and individual opportunities to the right things and to do things the right way each day. While each moment may seem small and insignificant when isolated, we must remember that one “mislaid” opportunity may prove to be difficult to overcome down the road.

Pay attention to your habits. Don’t allow bad attitudes to linger. Be careful not to cut corners. Don’t neglect time to pray and read your Bible. Don’t think because no one is looking that you are free to skimp on any good thing or to get away with some bad thing.

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. – 1 Corinthians 10:31

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men… – Colossians 3:23