Leadership Corner

March 2010

I Do Little Things Well

Looking back it's not the acts
Of power by kings or queens
What constitutes true greatness
Lay in simple little things…..
……
……
……
So day by day and week by week
To find power and great glory
Seek to do the little things
And how great will be your story.

    —Jonanda

These lines from a simple poem I found on the Internet remind me of an aunt of mine. She was a nun, Sister Matthias, and spent some 81 years in the convent. She died at the age of 99. I flew to New York for her services. At her wake, one of the other nuns from her order, remembering her, said "she did little things well."

It doesn't sound like much, really, but it is not a bad way to be remembered. Little things, added up over 99 years, make an impact. Think of the little things you do daily. You take your children to soccer practice or scouts, you may work or volunteer, give an encouraging word to a neighbor, relative or co-worker, send some positive e-mails, make a thoughtful remark on Facebook, say hello to a fellow sojourner walking the dog, or exchange some cheerful words with the grocery clerk. You run an errand for an ill friend. You complement a friend.

We may think these ordinary actions go unnoticed, and may forget them ourselves. But these little things are the fabric of the interconnected web of which we are all a part. If we go one step further and actively notice these little things, or notice similar gestures when directed toward us, they take on new meaning. And we may change other lives in doing them well. Haven't you noticed that you are sometimes changed by a small gesture offered by another fellow being?

Take note of some ordinary kindnesses in your daily lives: a stranger holds open a door for you, a co-worker holds the elevator for you, a fellow church member shares his hymnal because we have run out of them and you were a little late and didn't get one, another driver slows down so you can change lanes, the minister greets you warmly on Sunday, another member gives you a hug, the men's group sends you a valentine card, a friend compliments you on your clothes or jewelry. Even a genuine smile can make a difference to someone who is grappling with a difficult life issue. These little things, small though they are, are evidence of life, of showing up and paying attention, of interacting and connecting with the world around us, of saying yes to life, of making a difference in some very small way.

Isn't that a lot of what Mother Teresa did, after all? She reached out to the impoverished, the world's throwaways, with kindness. Look at what an impact she had, doing little things well. In 1986, while Sister Matthias (my aunt) was still alive, her sister died (my Aunt Jo). At Aunt Jo's funeral, at the end of the service, just before the priest was ready to dismiss the congregants, Sister Matthias toddled up the aisle (she was in her 80s then, arthritic and stooped) to the open casket. I sat up straight and alert. What was she doing? As it turned out she was pinning a rose corsage on my Aunt Jo, as the onlookers bore witness. As she went back to her seat, I knew I had just witnessed something special. You see, unbeknownst to me — and as I learned later — she had taken the time to go to my Aunt Jo's garden and pick some of Jo's own roses to make the corsage, because Jo had loved those roses and had tended them with great care while she was alive. What more fitting tribute — to do this little thing well as a final farewell gesture?

Practically speaking, there are many little things one can do related to Tapestry. Attend or host a Circle Supper, join a Covenant Group, volunteer for social action events, march in a Gay Pride parade, greet newcomers and visitors warmly on Sundays, offer a ride to church to a senior or housebound person, make a grocery run for a shut-in, phone or send a caring card to ease a fellow member's difficult circumstance, volunteer to read a children's story. Your little contribution, done well, strengthens the community and adds another vibrant thread to our tapestry.

Let us all make a habit of doing little things well, and often. And don't apologize if you can't do the big things. We can't all be statesmen, or world leaders. We can't all be Churchill or Bill Gates or Martin Luther King, Jr. But the little things we've done well, when all are tallied, will have changed lives and can amount to a large legacy.

Connie Pursell