Mother Teresa could teach us some important lessons on investing small things to produce big results.

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father,

is this:to visit orphans and widows in their affliction,

and to keep oneself  unstained from the world.”

James 1:27 ESV

Mother Teresa’s personal bio is extraordinary in its clarity: “By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus.”

This humble nun truly felt that doing small things consistently could make a difference in her world. That challenges many of us who feel if we can’t do all things, or great things that we will do ‘no-thing!’

The call God placed on her heart in 1946 was followed for the rest of her life … and not without difficulties, doubts and setbacks. Her first year was not the proverbial ‘shot out of the canon’ to gain immediate traction and trajectory. She had no income, begged for food and supplies, experienced doubt, loneliness and the temptation to return to the comfort of convent life.

She is known as a champion of the poorest of the poor, a reliever of the pain of illnesses such as AIDS and leprosy and a leader of a movement of compassionate people today ministering in over 120 countries.

Her life begs a second look by those of us called to advance God’s Kingdom. Two important lessons emerge:

First, find God’s assignment that has been written into your life. You have a calling that is unique to you. (Psalm 139) You were not massed produced, you were personally crafted by a God who knows there is no one in the entire world who is just like you.

Second, once you realize your passion, give yourself to it, one small piece at a time. Never doubt that God adds up our faithful small services to create a much larger result than we are aware of. Never despise or reject small beginnings. They may be small, but more importantly, they are beginnings.

“Little is much when God is in it” … “You and God constitute a majority” … “If we’re faithful in little we will be given much” … are all trite clichés, but they are also true.

Look into your heart and find that which motivates and begin building small acts of service, life-producing words, all with Godly attitude. You will begin to see how small acts can lead people around you to a really big God.

“God doesn’t ask us to do great things.

He asks us to do small things with great love.”

Mother Teresa