Small things matter.
Especially when the Big Things sometimes get out of control and overwhelmingly negative,
small things matter.
The daily news sometimes hits me like a ton of bricks, and I feel crushed by the pains of this world. I can't write. I can't paint. Empathy hurts.
“Are you crying about that, Mom?”
Of course I am.
“You don’t even know those people!”
I don’t need to know them. I see the homeless, the downtrodden, the oppressed, and I feel their sorrow. Some great people feel called to action. They become powerful and invigorated when they see others’ needs. They are motivated to do great things and change the world for the better. Dorothy Day, Mary Jo Copeland, Mother Teresa… They are Real, they are Extraordinary, they are Magnificent.
I’m not one of them.
I see suffering, and I just get knocked down to my knees. But I am beginning to think that’s not only a bad thing. Because on my knees, I am praying. And only when I am on my knees can I see the small things that make all the difference.
Small things are easy to overlook. Like these dewdrops on the grass…
If I wasn’t on my knees, I never would have noticed them. The veins in this beautiful Maple leaf show me that there is order and design here in the universe. I didn’t make it. I can’t understand it. Certainly can’t control it. But I don’t have to. Even if I feel chaos or pain around me, those feelings do not sum up the entirety of the world. News headlines cannot take away the perfection surrounding us.
God is here, and He has it under control. I just need to pay attention to the little things.
They are everywhere. They are perfect. Just as they always have been.
And that matters.
Especially when the Big Things sometimes get out of control and overwhelmingly negative,
small things matter.
The daily news sometimes hits me like a ton of bricks, and I feel crushed by the pains of this world. I can't write. I can't paint. Empathy hurts.
“Are you crying about that, Mom?”
Of course I am.
“You don’t even know those people!”
I don’t need to know them. I see the homeless, the downtrodden, the oppressed, and I feel their sorrow. Some great people feel called to action. They become powerful and invigorated when they see others’ needs. They are motivated to do great things and change the world for the better. Dorothy Day, Mary Jo Copeland, Mother Teresa… They are Real, they are Extraordinary, they are Magnificent.
I’m not one of them.
I see suffering, and I just get knocked down to my knees. But I am beginning to think that’s not only a bad thing. Because on my knees, I am praying. And only when I am on my knees can I see the small things that make all the difference.
Small things are easy to overlook. Like these dewdrops on the grass…
If I wasn’t on my knees, I never would have noticed them. The veins in this beautiful Maple leaf show me that there is order and design here in the universe. I didn’t make it. I can’t understand it. Certainly can’t control it. But I don’t have to. Even if I feel chaos or pain around me, those feelings do not sum up the entirety of the world. News headlines cannot take away the perfection surrounding us.
God is here, and He has it under control. I just need to pay attention to the little things.
They are everywhere. They are perfect. Just as they always have been.
And that matters.
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