Small and simple actions add up to a meaningful life. Christlike love transforms our simple, everyday living into something extraordinary.
Have you ever looked closely at a single drop of water? In a massive ocean, a drop doesn’t seem to make much of a difference. But the ocean is made up of many small drops that make a world of difference.
In a devotional given at Brigham Young University, J. Michael Hunter, chair of the Harold B. Lee Library’s Department of Religion and Family History, teaches about the importance of small and simple actions. He shows us how these tiny moments add up to a meaningful life.
Mother Teresa is a beautiful example of a person who did the small and simple things to become great. While she served the poverty-stricken people of Calcutta, India, a reporter pointed out that her service was negligible in comparison to the millions of people that she couldn’t reach.
Mother Teresa replied, “Welfare is for a purpose—an admirable and a necessary one—whereas Christian love is for a person.” She showed that loving individuals is more important than creating statistics.
“Christlike love transforms our simple, everyday living into something extraordinary,” Hunter says. “It’s the love of Christ that makes the difference. . . . There are people within our reach here who need us. There are assignments waiting for us here—we just need to accept them.”
Although we may be doing seemingly little things now, one day we will realize their eternal significance.
Read J. Michael Hunter’s full article, “Small Things.”
Source: BYU Speeches
—Sam Lund, Mormon Insights
feature image by mark doda
This article really resonates with me. This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes: The difference between ho we are and who we want to become is what we do.
This article’s message of loving and serving the individual reminds me of Christ’s lesson of the good shepherd leaving the ninety-nine to go after the one. We are all single drops of water; one sheep in a herd of a hundred. But we also have the opportunity to act as the shepherd who seeks out the one lost sheep, cares for it, and brings it home safely. The world would be infinitely more wonderful if each person took a few minutes out of their day to show kindness to another. Christ doesn’t ask us to rescue everyone, he simply asks us to rescue one.
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