A Challenge From Mother Teresa

I attended a Missionaries' Fellowship Night last week. Present were different groups who have dedicated their lives to spread God's word all over the world. I was inspired by the message of Fr. Kruger, a Missiologist, who exhorted us about mission work. I was struck by his quote from Mother Teresa. It goes:

‎"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies. If you cannot feed a hundred people, then just feed one. I am a little pencil in the hand of the writing God who is sending a love letter to the world. Do not think that love, in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired."

Three things I'd like to highlight:

a. Faithfulness in Small Things

How many times have we been faced with seemingly insignificant situations that compromise our personal integrity? Our daily prayertime, our tithes, our word to be on time, exercising, paying our debts: all these things affect our total being. If we are not faithful in these, we cannot build a strong foundation to handle bigger things. And if we are already handling big responsibilities, the tendency is for these responsibilities to collapse on us. Our faithfulness in small things is the foundation that will uphold our lives to achieve real success.

b. Being God's pencil

Often it is difficult to assume great responsibilities if we are not humble enough that God will use our nothingness to do His mighty work. We look upon ourselves and think, "How can I possibly do this task? I lack the ability." Mother Teresa was able to do great things because of her humility. Let us be God's pencil's for Him to write a love letter to the world.

c. Loving Without Getting Tired

The challenge of Mother Teresa for us is to love consistently and tirelessly. When do we stop loving someone? Is it when the person sins against us? Is it when we are betrayed? Is it when the other one has stopped loving us? It was a steep climb to Mount Calvary with a heavy cross on Christ's back. Yet Jesus carried our sins, endured, suffered, and died, all for His love for you and me. Never stop loving.

Thank you Lord for being faithful to us. We are small and insignificant compared to your power and glory, yet you are always there for us. Loving God, write your love story by using us as your pencils, so that the world may know Your love. And our King, do not grow weary of us. We know that You will never stop loving us. Help us to become like you, ever loving, ever merciful. Amen