“I want to do small things for God,” said no one ever.

But that's what I do. My business is small things. Perhaps the smallest, most inconsequential things you could imagine. I sell lipstick. And in the grand scheme of life, lipstick is pretty small.

When I'm not peddling lipstick, I'm a stay-at-home mom. Talk about living in the land of small things. My life is all small things. Yesterday I folded and put away two loads of laundry, emptied and refilled the dishwasher, cooked supper and put in my Avon order. That's a lot of small things. (Did I mention I found matches for all the socks?)

It’s easy for me to look at my life of small things and feel badly.

Some days I wonder why I went to college if “all I was ever going to do” was sell lipstick and raise kids. As I help ladies choose the right shade or walk through the maze of Barbies and Legos, I wonder if this is all there is to my life and if there will ever be more.

It wasn't too long ago that I was pursuing a big, corporate job. Taking that job would have meant giving up my Avon business. And, though I refused to admit this, I would have had to give up home-schooling my kids. But the recognition, title, opportunity and, oh yes, salary was really attractive.

That's when a customer died. Cleo had also been a friend; she'd filled a void in my life. My grandmothers died during my teen years, and Cleo had become a kind of grandmother to me. She had pictures of my kids on her fridge and always sent me away with a baked goodie for them. She'd hug and kiss me, call me “babe” and say “I love you” when I dropped off her order. We'd sit and talk at her kitchen table about recipes and kids, husbands and gardens.

The lipstick that brought me into Cleo's life was a small thing. But my relationship with her was not.

And in the light of this revelation, I looked at my kids and our messy kitchen strewn with books and slimy science experiments and realized I couldn't give this up. So I withdrew my candidacy.

I'd almost missed the big things God gave me to do because I was too busy looking at all the small things.

I no longer yearn for a big, important career. But I've begged God to give me a big, important, full-time ministry so I could grow His kingdom and bring Him glory.

Once I sat at the table of a customer and held her hand. I prayed with her and for her. Her life was a mess, and God had put me at her table when she was vulnerable and needed a friend. The lipstick I brought to her that day was a little thing. The moment we shared with each other -- and with God -- was not.

That was just one customer on one “work day.” But what about the times my kids have snuggled next to me on the couch while I read the Bible to them? How about those times I've held their hands and prayed for them? And then there are those times clean-up halts because my kids and I are singing our lungs out to a worship tune on K-LOVE. (It's hard to pick up Legos when your hands are stretched toward heaven.)

These are big things hidden among little things.

It's true that lipstick and sock-matching are little things. But I know God can use little things and make them big things. I just need to be faithful and diligent in what He gives me.

What little things in your life can you use for God's glory? How can you be faithful to God in your career? In your home? In your relationships?