How Little Things Refresh Hearts on Valentine's Day

I was watching the hit show This Is Us last week and one of the characters described when his marriage ended. He said he woke up every morning and made her coffee for years. Then one day he woke up and didn't feel like making her coffee, so he didn't. And she never noticed.

At some point we all stop noticing the little things. That the dishes are done or the fresh bread is bought. That the laundry is folded or the kids are ready for bed. That the homework is finished or the car's washer fluid is full.

But it's the little things that are the big things after all. Those little things are sending a message that someone cares. That someone is trying to make a difference. That someone wants to lighten the load of another.

Lebanese-American poet and writer Kahlil Gibran once said, "In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed."

And Humphry Davy, the chemist who helped discover chlorine and iodine, once said, "Life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles and kindness and small obligations given habitually, are what preserve the heart and secure comfort."

As we celebrate love this week on Valentine's Day, let's remember how the little things can refresh hearts, refuel connections and secure comfort. Because all anyone ever wants in life is a soft place to fall surrounded by those who make them feel like they matter.