Little Ways

Little drops of water, little grains of sand.

Make the mighty ocean and the pleasant land.

The "Little Ways" of St. Therese have always been something so inspirational for me.

What may appear, small, obscure, unseen, ordinary or unimportant by worldly standards, is in fact like the smallest stiches on a quilt. Though they may be only visable on the inside of the quilt, they are in fact what hold the fabric of the piece together.

St. Therese understood that what may appear to be of no value here on earth, may have great value in the Kingdom of God. Her wondeful quote "To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul" Is something I often find myself returning to.

A smile, a kind word, even the monotonous details of daily work are a prayer.

And for me the greastest prayer has been acceptance which seems, in a way such an ordinary thing, yet it has been something of an evolving process for me.

Acceptance of suffering at times. Yet acceptance also of the gracious gifts of others when my pride tried to resist. Acceptance of my limitations, My faults, stubborness, pride, disatisfaction, indignation, fear.

Acceptance of the limitations and faults of others. Truthfully. And the more I accept my own faults. The more I can love others despite theirs. How can I take offence? It's so much easier to accept that difficulties in a person's behaviour are usually the result of some kind of pain.

Just like my own are. And I hope they accept mine lol!

"Perhaps St. Therese of Liseux, patroness of all missions, was meant to live out a destiny in which her time was limited to the minimum, her actions were reduced to essentials, her heroism was indisernable to those who looked for it, and the scope of her mission covered a mere few square meters, in order to teach us that the effectivness of a mission is not always measurable by the hands of a clock, that actions are not always visible, that missions covering vast distances will be joined by missions that penetrate straight into the depth of the crowds of humanity. In that abyss, these missions will make contact with the human spirit that questions the world, and oscillates between the mystery of a God who wants it to be small and stripped bare, and the mystery of a world that wants it to be great and powerful."

Madeliene Delbrel "We, The Ordinary People of the Streets."