2026 Timbers Issue 3

A small thing isn’t a small thing when it’s repeated.

Although one choice might not determine the direction of a life, choices have a way of becoming patterns. Patterns become habits. Habits shape character. And over time, what seemed small begins to carry considerable weight.

That is the power of compounding stewardship.

We see it in practical ways. One person sharing something good can encourage another person to do the same. A responsibility handled well builds trust for greater responsibility. A few minutes spent preparing today can change what is possible tomorrow.

The same principle is true in our faith and in the families we lead.

Small obedience compounds. Small disciplines compound. When a parent chooses truth, children learn that honesty matters. When gratitude is practiced consistently, entitlement has less room to take root. When prayer becomes a natural response rather than a last resort, children learn where dependence belongs.

None of those choices may feel significant on their own. But repeated over time, they establish the rhythms of a home. And those rhythms are shaping what our children will one day carry into homes of their own.

Small compromises compound too.

That’s why the seemingly little things matter so much in raising children.

As you turn these pages, you’ll see some of the bigger moments from this season… the Big Oak Cattle Rodeo, ASCENDants experiencing adventure and challenge, families sharing time together at the beach, and children stepping into another school year.

But behind every experience pictured here are hundreds of moments that will never make a magazine.

A child learning to finish what they started. A houseparent choosing patience in a difficult conversation. A teacher refusing to lower the standard because they see what a student is capable of. A teenager making a better decision than they would have six months ago. A family laughing around a table. A child being reminded, again, that they are known, valued and loved.

Small things.

Except they aren’t.

They are deposits. And when those deposits are made faithfully, day after day and year after year, they create something a single moment never could.

This is how children grow strong. And it is how a life once shaped by circumstances beyond their control develops the wisdom and strength to move toward an abundant future.

God has always been able to accomplish much through what appears ordinary.

That should challenge all of us.

Pay attention to the small choices. Steward the ordinary moments. Be faithful with what is in front of you today. Because we rarely know which conversation, correction, act of obedience, or quiet investment God will use to shape what comes next.