I was getting worried. Time was racing away, and I still hadn’t found the right venue for my December wedding. “Part of me feels like it’s silly to pray about wedding details,” I messaged a friend, “because they’re not important in the cosmic big picture.”
“You can absolutely pray for wedding details!” my friend encouraged. “Nothing is too silly for God. God sees when a sparrow falls; He knows the numbers of hairs on your head; He knows the very fibers of your heart; and He has delighted in bringing your heart together with your fiancé’s. I believe that God’s looking out for the wedding details is something that He lavishes on our hearts as women, and I think God enjoys meeting our stresses over what we feel are little things.”
As I read my friend’s message, I let out a long sigh and reminded myself that God was a loving Father who welcomed all my prayers, even the “silly” ones. I was long-distance wedding planning from Korea, which was sometimes stressful. My parents had been visiting my shortlisted venues back in the United Kingdom, but nothing was quite right. Until the last place.
That last chance turned out to be perfect. It was a quintessential English country house, with a sense of charm, lots of history, and a host who was keen to do everything possible to help. There was an open fireplace in the grand hall, beautiful grounds, and even something as “silly” as the kind of chairs I prefer. Additionally, we were given the venue for a lower fee than expected. It felt as though God was smiling, offering me this wedding present from Him, saying, “Look, I took care of the details you thought were too small and silly for My attention. Remember again, I am the God of small things, too.”
I often struggle with asking God for “small” things, especially in the face of the world’s tragedies and challenges— whether or not those small things are material, like the details of a dream wedding. Also, I’ve found that the church often focuses on service and self-denial, which can make praying for personal requests sometimes feel selfish.
I certainly believe there is a time for self-denial, but I increasingly believe that there is also a time to accept good gifts from God that seem extravagant or unnecessary. A time to ask for “small” things that would bring us joy. Whatever God’s answer, I believe He welcomes those requests. After all, He is the Creator who intricately crafted so much “unnecessary” beauty in the world. He is interested in our happiness.
“Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father,”1 says James 1:17. And Ellen White comments, “He who upholds the unnumbered worlds throughout immensity, at the same time cares for the wants of the little brown sparrow. . . . No tears are shed that God does not notice. There is no smile that He does not mark. If we would but fully believe this, all undue anxieties would be dismissed. Our lives would not be so filled with disappointment as now; for everything, whether great or small, would be left in the hands of God, who is not perplexed by the multiplicity of cares, or overwhelmed by their weight.”2 “Nothing that in any way concerns our peace is too small for Him to notice.”3
As I get married, I am rejoicing not only in this new chapter of my life, but also in the reminders surrounding my wedding, that my God is the God of the small things.
1 From the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
2 Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1956), p. 86.
3 Ibid., p. 100.
