Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct. [Galatians 6:4-5 (NLT)]
There is an old parable about a small sparrow, lying flat on his back in the middle of the road with his little feet raised in the air. An elephant comes by and asks him what he is doing. “I’m holding up the sky,” is the small bird’s response. ”Hah,” scoffs the elephant, “What good can you possibly do with those skinny weak legs?” The tiny bird replies, “Well, one does what one can. One does what one can!”
Consider the effect a young shepherd named David had, not just on a giant and an army of Philistines, but on a whole nation. Reflect on the impact of a boy’s small offering of loaves and fish, of a peasant girl who led the French army to victory at Orléans, or of a tired woman who refused to give up her seat on a bus. Think about the influence of a mediocre Indian lawyer who introduced the concept of nonviolent protest, of a convert to Christianity who spread the gospel by writing letters while imprisoned, of a black minister who had a dream, or the effect of an Albanian nun who saw a need in the streets of Calcutta. These were people who simply did what they could. What is God asking of me today? What is he asking of you? Is there just one life that could be made better by something we do today? After all, one does what one can!
God does not demand that we do great things, only little things with great love. [Mother Teresa]
Immediately after finishing yesterday’s devotion about conflict and prayer, I received a call from a friend whose 11-year old granddaughter, Anna, has osteosarcoma (bone cancer). Having undergone chemotherapy for the past two months, she is scheduled for surgery this week. In the best case scenario, her knee and part of her femur will be removed and replaced by a metal prostheses; the worst case scenario involves complete amputation of the leg. In either case, more chemo and at least six to twelve months of physical therapy will follow.
I’m in the midst of reading a series of seven children’s fantasy novels, The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis. Some of them, like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, I read as a girl but others are new to me. The world of Narnia is a world to which one wants to return again and again and I’m enjoying my visit ever so much. C.S. Lewis, however, was much more than a writer of fantasy, non-fiction and poetry; he was a well-known lecturer, a brilliant scholar and a renowned Christian apologist.
I found an odd synchronicity in my morning’s reading. The verse for the day was Matthew 7:12, the Golden Rule: “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you.” Following that was a story by Christian author and speaker Lysa Terkeurst. She wrote about speaking to a group when a woman walked up on stage, stood next to her, and then leaned into her. Standing before an audience of 6,500 women, unsure of what to do, the author simply put her arm around the woman and continued speaking. The woman later said she needed God and thought if she got close enough to the Christian speaker, she just might feel Him. The third portion of my reading included the above selection from C.S. Lewis’ writings.
Devotions of the Heart 