I have always been too serious-minded. It runs in my family. My mother is the same way. We just don’t know how to be light-hearted and fun. We are all business. I don’t like being this way. I wish I could slow down and stop to smell the roses…but I am always thinking about all that needs to be done. I neglect taking the time to send cards or make phone calls to lonely or sick relatives and friends because I am focused on cramming as many tasks into the day as possible…and there just isn’t any time left to do small, thoughtful things for someone else. I need God’s help to change! I am writing this reflection primarily for myself, but I hope that it will resonate with some of you as well.
If you are like me, you might have a tendency to think that just because something is small, or seemingly insignificant…that it is not important.
· Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds. But, when it is grown it becomes a tree, and the birds of the air make their nests in it.
· Jesus’ public ministry was preceded by John the Baptist, (a seemingly insignificant figure who wore camel’s hair and ate locusts), preaching repentance in the desert.
· The Apostles were sent out in pairs to towns and villages, without money, food, or even a second tunic. (How unimpressive must they have seemed!)
· A young nun who died at age 23 from tuberculosis in 1897, became a Doctor of the Universal Church. St. Therese of Liseux never left the walls of her convent, yet her humble “Story of a Soul” has helped countless people to strive for sanctity following her “Little Way” of doing little things with great love.
Things that are small and seemingly insignificant seem to be the very things that God uses to do His biggest and greatest work!
Well, if God likes to use small things to accomplish His most mighty works…so does Satan, who always mimics God, but in the reverse.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said, “The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion.” If we follow that statement to its logical conclusion, that means that the magnitude of a world war can be caused by the intentional killing of a child no bigger than your pinky finger!
She also said, “If a mother can murder the child within her womb, what is left for me and you to kill each other?
I believe both of those statements are true. The safest place in the world should be a mother’s womb. How can there be peace, either in homes or in nations, while unborn babies are being killed by the millions in such a cold, calculated way?
It truly is the little things that matter…both good and evil. We live in a world full of very big problems, and although we are not capable of doing anything big to stop them, we can do small things with love.
As I sat down to write this reflection, I had to stop typing to answer my door. It was my friend Meredith. Without telling me, she had cooked dinner for my family and brought it to my house. It was totally un-expected and amazingly kind! She knew that my father had moved into my home last month, being on hospice and needing round-the-clock care…and just wanted to do something to help. Wow! Humbling, and heart warming!
Something so small…this act of kindness…touched my heart so deeply. I hope and pray that it will continue to ripple out in my own acts of kindness towards others.
Today I have learned just how much something small can accomplish. Thank you Meredith, for teaching me.