Saying "yes" in the small things.

I have always loved to take a hot shower.  And when I say "hot", I mean usually my water heater cannot handle the temperature at which I would like my water.  Yes, it goes against dermatologists' recommendations (especially in the dry winter time!) but I don't care.  Yes, my husband thinks that the temperature of my shower is something extreme, but I LOVE it. 

In fact, my hot shower is one of the few moments in the day which I get all to myself. 

So yesterday morning I got into my hot shower and immediately I had this interior feeling that Jesus was asking me, "Would you turn your hot water down for Me?" 

I paused and thought, I must be crazy.  Why am I thinking this and why would Jesus even care about the temperature of my shower water?  But the question then came to me in a different way:  "Would you make a small act of self-sacrifice for me right now in this moment?"

I thought, Oh Lord!  This is my SHOWER you are talking about...but okay.  I'll try it.  I turned the faucet a fraction towards cold and shivered. 

So much for my long, hot shower, I thought.  And then after a minute had passed, I realized that my body had adjusted to this new temperature in a short amount of time.  I was shocked, but thought, I can turn the water down a little more.  My initial resistance to offering up something I really enjoyed eventually turned into a lukewarm-bordering-on-cool shower!  (I'm not going to pretend that I wound up taking a completely cold shower....but lukewarm is pretty much "cold" for me!)  And by the end I was feeling really good that I had practiced a little self-sacrifice.   And I felt good because I had said "yes" to God when He asked me. 

Sometimes we feel the Lord gently asking us if we would give up something for Him.  Sometimes the request might seem a little silly (like my hot shower) but the point is:

Do we hear Him asking us?

How will we respond?

I look at it as a little exercise for the soul.  When I practice saying "yes" to God with love and obedience in the little things, my spiritual "muscles" will be stronger to say "yes" to the bigger ones.