Mother Teresa was noted explaining her lifetime of service to the poor in India: “I can love only one person at a time. I can feed only one person at a time. Just one, one, one. So you begin…I begin. I picked up one person—maybe if I didn’t pick up that one person I wouldn’t have picked up 42,000.” 

The story is told of a college professor, well before her death, who asked his students to name people they considered genuinely worthy of the title “world leader.” Various names were given, but one name stood out above all of them: Mother Teresa. Reasons given: “She transcends normal love.” “She has a capacity for giving that makes me ashamed of my own self-centered actions.” “The most remarkable thing about her is that she never grows tired of her work. She never experiences ‘burnout’ like so many other people. I hope that I can be as satisfied with my life as she is with hers.”

None of those students had ever met her, yet they acknowledged that her demonstration of love had a profound impact on each of them. She relished in her duties—can we do any less?

The apostle Paul, having to set some teaching right in the churches in Galatia, wrote in Galatians 5:22-23—²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

So, the next time we have the chance to be kind, let's remember her words: “It is not how much we do but how much love we put in the doing.”

How exciting to know that when we surrender to the Holy Spirit, we can put enough love into our work for at least one person! Who knows what can happen to an entire church and community if we all begin with just one?

Blessings on your journey,

Gene