Here’s a piece from the archives Melissa Y. wrote a few years back, that is as thoughful and lovely now as it was then.

I have a small life. I live in a small house with thankfully small utility bills. Our town is small, with a small grocery store and small library (the librarian calling me by name on my second visit almost made up for the lack of books). Big things don’t usually happen here, and I like it that way. It’s a fortunate blessing most of the time.

But there are times when I wonder about bigness. I want to feel the weight of it, see the height and breadth of it, smell the thickness of it. I suppose that’s why I like history. The panoramic scope of centuries helps to put today’s headlines in perspective. But there is something beyond headlines and events, something bigger.

It’s part of what I loved about Carol Petranek’s experiences in “Linear Thoughts…Acts of Creation.” Not only was it fascinating to read about the efforts of Mormons in Washington, D.C. to celebrate Black History Month, there was a pervasive sense of bigness surrounding the event: “Burning within us was an understanding of the Lord’s direction of this activity; all who were involved, even in the smallest degree, recognized that same spirit.” Being inspired by God—that’s big.

While we mortals have created some pretty amazingly big things, I am convinced that true bigness is solely God’s territory. Ironically, though, I don’t think size matters to Him. Whether it’s planets orbiting a sun or electrons orbiting a nucleus, I think He is equally aware. How this can be—how He can create worlds without end and still number the hairs on our heads—is of course beyond me; but it gives me comfort that through Him, I can have bigness even in my small life.