ALL IT TAKES IS A CUP OF COLD WATER

In my fantasies I have imagined myself (Big Ego engaged to its fullest) doing wonderful things. (I’ll spare you the humiliating details.) Even so, the truth is that in order to be able to do giant acts of goodness and righteousness, even large ones, we have to begin small. Just as we do not begin teaching children higher math but begin with simple arithmetic, so we begin doing good deeds by doing small deeds like, as Jesus tells us in the gospel, giving a glass of water to a child.

That’s no big deal, we might say. And it is not. But that is precisely Jesus’ point in all of his teachings. It is no big deal – to us. It is a big deal to a child who is thirsty and who is too small to be able to get a drink for herself.

As that child grows older we will be asked to do even greater deeds, perhaps even make great sacrifices for her. We will be able to do so and will want to do so not only because we love that child but also because over time we have done small deeds that came at no real sacrifice to us. We learned how to do great deeds from the small deeds we did. And that is the way it should be. Heroic acts of kindness are the result of being a hero for those to whom any act of kindness seems heroic.

Sometimes I think we miss that truth about how important little acts of kindness really are. It is not simply a matter of doing the little things well so that we are able to the bigger things when it is time to do them. Rather it is in the recognition that all acts of kindness and love, no matter how small, are important and they can never be taken for granted or, worse, not done simply because they are so small.

Yes, someone may come along immediately after us and give that child the glass of water, the glass we refused to give because it was no big deal and we were too much in a hurry anyway. But it was a big deal to that thirsty child and should be a deal important enough for us to, well, deal with. As a Christian our responsibility is always to do for the least first and to those who have the most last.

We know this, it is true. Jesus is simply pointing out the obvious. Yet sometimes the obvious is so obvious that we take little or no note of it. Not to belabor the obvious, perhaps this thought can be the impetus for us to take some time to reflect on those daily deeds, small though they may be, that we do for others and others do for us. Becoming more aware of just how important they are in the grand scheme of things may help us to become even more attentive to them. It may even help us to be able to accomplish even greater deeds when that time comes.

It is also a reminder, to me at least, to be thankful you for all those who, in ways large and small, helped me in my faith journey, who gave me that glass of water when I needed it and who still do.