Small Things, Great Love

“Not all of us can do great things.  But we can all do small things with great love.”
~Mother Teresa

As a follow-up to my last blog post about lowering standards, I want to explore the idea of contribution.  Many of us feel that we need to do something great in our lifetime - something that changes the world in some way, makes an impact on a lot of people, something great!  I’m one of those people...well, a recovering one anyway.  The quote from Mother Teresa that began this post has been instrumental for me in working to lower my standards in regards to the idea of “doing something great.”

Since she said it, let’s use Mother Teresa as an example.  Do you think Mother Teresa was focused on being the most famous and well-known nun in history by doing great things, or was she focused on doing what was right in front of her, regardless of how seemingly large or small, with great love?  Most likely, her focus was on doing whatever was hers to do with great love, and she ended up doing great things.

Do you imagine that the founding fathers of the United States did what they did out of a desire to become famous historical figures who would be revered by hundreds of millions of people, or did they focus on doing what was in front of them to do with great love?  If all they cared about was a portrait on currency someday, England would have won the war.

Does Donald Trump focus on putting as much love possible into what he does, or does he care only about “greatness?”  After he leaves the physical world, how long will his notoriety remain?  In the end, will anybody think he accomplished anything “great?”

If you shift your focus to doing whatever is in front of you to do with as much love as possible, you may never accomplish anything the world defines as “great.”  You may well end up doing “great things” as Mother Teresa did.  But regardless of what the world says about your accomplishments, if you do everything with great love, the resulting benefit to you, your family, and all of humanity from the love you sew into the fabric of our collective consciousness will be greater by far than if your only concern is doing “something great.”