“Do small things with great love.” – Mother Teresa

I will be painting this quote on an old piece of barn wood today.  So simple.  So profound.  So doable.

That’s how Mother Teresa lived her life.  She did innumerable things with amazing love.  She lived among the poor and forgotten.  She fed them, cared for them.  She met their needs.  Everything she did was not for gain or glory but for the good of another and the love of her God.

Few of us will find a cure for cancer.  Not many will attain fame and great fortune.  Nobel Peace Prize?  Probably not.  But every single one of us can do “small things with great love”.

Jesus did a lot of great things while He was on earth.  Miracles, healings, bringing people back from the dead.  GREAT things.  But the great miracles that He did were far outnumbered by the countless small things He did with great love.  He lived and loved, laughed and cried, ate and walked with the people God put in His path.  He talked and listened, He gave and received.  He interacted with those that others ignored and even despised.  And every single one of those things He did with great love.

My sweet mom is a wonderful example of this for me.  She has people from all walks of life into their home and fixes meals for them, cares for them, listens to them.  She takes care of their practical needs, no matter who they are.  From the time I was little, our doors were always open to the recovering addict, the abused, the misunderstood, the elderly, the mentally ill and the mentally challenged.  I cry as I write this, remembering all over again my mom’s tender heart toward all these people.  She did many “small” things with great love.

In particular, for many years and to this day she helps care for a lady that I grew up with who has Down’s Syndrome.  Her own mother is gone and she has no one to look after her and check in on her from time to time.  And so my mom does it.  It’s not convenient to run her back and forth to doctor’s appointments, the grocery store, or to take her to the dollar store for hours on end. Mom never complains about it.  To her, these are just small things.  But they are done with great love.

I have many small things to do today.  Most of them will, at some level, involve other people.  Will I just go through the motions of completing the tasks, or will I look at everything I do as a small thing I can do with great love?  Will I remember that every person I meet, every life I touch is deeply loved by Jesus and that I shouldn’t be able to help but do the same?

Thank you, Jesus for Your example, and thank you, precious Mom, for yours.  May all the little stuff of my day carry a little more meaning as I let love be my goal….just like the two of you have…

Colossians 3:17 – And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.