Mtr Mary Trainor

Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean,
And the pleasant land  …*

Dear friend,

Among the reasons I really love Jesus is how he sees the value in small things, things of little significance in their own context. And he calls our attention to their greater worth.

Mustard seed. A lost sheep. A widow’s tiny offering.

***

In today’s Daily Office Gospel, Jesus has some hard words for the self-important, the self-inflated who mouth prayers for show while walking over little people. 

Then he sits opposite the treasury and watches rich people putting in large amounts of money, and a widow who drops in the equivalent of a penny. Hers is the greatest of the gifts that day, he says, because it comes at a greater cost to her.

Little deeds of kindness,
Little words of love,
Make our earth happy,
Like the Heaven above.

It’s been said that Americans love stories of the underdog—the little guy or gal—winning the game, the day, the prince’s heart, the queen’s favor. And yet I cannot think of one person I know who actually wants to be an underdog, the one expected to lose. It’s certainly never been my desire to seek that role.

But then along comes Jesus and turns our thinking around. That little mustard seed becomes the largest of the trees, that silly little lost sheep is worth the perils of the search, the widow’s mite is the most lavish gift of all.

So the little moments,
Humble though they be,
Make the mighty ages
Of eternity.

Mtr Mary

*“Little Things,” Julia Abigail Fletcher Carney, 1845