| Sunday, March 29, 2009 |
| The Small Things |
 Mother Teresa tells a story in her book The Path of Love, one of which tells of a man she met while working in Australia. He was a poor and destitute man, but he did have a home. This home was small and extremely dirty, and it was easy to tell for her that he had not cleaned in years. She offered to clean his house for him, and he reluctantly let her. As she was cleaning she came across an old lamp covered with dirt and dust. As she cleaned it she found that it was beautiful underneath the grime.
She cleaned the hidden treasure and asked the man, “why don’t you light this lamp?” He replied, “no one ever comes over to see me, there is no need to light the lamp.” Mother Teresa in her compassion asked, “if the sisters come over to see you would you light your lamp?” With joy he replied “yes”. The sister faithfully took hold of this challenge stopping by every night to see the lonely man. A few months later Mother Teresa got a message from one of those nuns, originating from this man. “Tell her thank you and that the light she lit in my life continues to shine today”. Mother Teresa finished her story by saying, “I thought it was a small thing, but we unfortunately neglect the small things in life too often”
I wonder in my own life how many opportunities I had to pay attention to the “small stuff” and instead continued on. Whether it be spending that few minutes to talk with my neighbor rather than hurrying inside so I wouldn’t have to strike up a conversation, or inviting a friend from work over for dinner. When hearing of someone in need, what if I would have taken the time to consider how I could help, and acted on it? Could I have stopped and encouraged a co-worker that is having a bad day?
I am convinced that God gives us opportunities every day to in small ways make a big impact on the lives of other people. These opportunities are not hidden from us, we choose to not see them. We convince ourselves we are too busy, or that it is really not needed. When what we should see is that these opportunities might seem small, but they have a huge influence on the lives of other people.
I am challenging myself this month to allow God to show me the small things within my days that are opportunities to help someone’s “light shine”. Will you take up this challenge? |
posted by Unknown @ 12:23 AM   |
|
|
|
