deeds that move the wheels of the world

"The road must be trod, but it will be very hard. And neither strength nor wisdom will carry us far upon it. This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong. Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere."
The Lord of the Rings Book 1 The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien
-Elrond, Chapter 'The Council of Elrond'.

do you feel like whatever it is you are trying to accomplish is work done in vain? or that the little battles you have to deal with everyday are starting to feel like they are not worth going through anymore? i've been feeling that way lately myself.
the quote above mentions "the deeds that move the wheels of the world" and that "small hands do them because they must". i wonder if the small hands even know that they are moving the wheels of the world...
the things we do everyday, in the shadow of the history of the world, seem very insignificant. we go through our day just trying to keep ourselves alive and together and cling to some measure of hope that whatever we do will take us somewhere, somehow. where is somewhere? how do we get there? and why even try? the moment we cannot answer these questions; this is where we begin to feel worthless and hopeless. so where does our misaligned hope find it's ground?
"That you were at that time without Christ... having no hope of the promise, and without God in this world. But now in Christ Jesus, you, who some time were afar off, are made nigh (near) by the blood of Christ. " Ephesians 2:13 (d-rb) our hope finds its foundation in Jesus. "I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope." Jeremiah 29:11 (gwt) a future filled with hope... now thats something we all desire- to know we have a future and that future is filled with hope. armed with this hope, how do we then live?
"For ours is not a conflict with mere flesh and blood, but with the despotisms, the empires, the forces that control and govern this dark world--the spiritual hosts of evil arrayed against us in the heavenly warfare. Therefore put on the complete armour of God, so that you may be able to stand your ground on the day of battle, and, having fought to the end, to remain victors on the field." Ephesians 6:12-13 (wmt) feeling insignificant? look at who our battle is with: "the forces that control and govern this dark world"; and look at our mission: "to remain victors on the field". this is a massive responsibility.
what are the "deeds that move the wheels of the world" then? each little Christ putting on the full armour of God and fighting to the end. we each have our little battles, but in the big picture only God can see, each little victory in each little battle will decide the outcome of our conflict with the spiritual hosts of evil arrayed against us. Like the quote i began with: "This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong. Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must." we may feel insignificant, but we must realize that our small hands serve a much bigger purpose.