Recipe For Holiness: Small Acts

To our #Recipe4Holiness we will now add a special ingredient, that is actually many ingredients in one…
Small Acts – those often unseen moments our of lives that create a saints heart within us!

f you’ve been reading my blog for a while – or even a few days – you are acutely aware of my many deficiencies. The one that I regret the most – and try the most to overcome is my lack of hospitality and thoughtfulness. Though, probably a more fair assessment would be my lack of follow through!

I often think of the nice or caring things I could do to help others – however, for a myriad of reasons (none of them good); my follow-through statistics are very low. At first this behavior came from self-preservation and lack of instruction; but as an adult with fully formed conscience it is not longer acceptable behavior.

AWARENESS IS NOT HALF THE BATTLE

While I would love to say, that once I realized the necessity of a life in Christ to include reaching out to others my behavior changed – I can not. I still every day have to resist my self-absorbed ways. In all too painful ways the Lord has allowed me to feel the DEEP regret of not acting on an inspiration of the Spirit to reach out to another. Such as missing the great privilege of bringing a fellow parishioner viaticum (the last Eucharist before death); or being a voice of comfort on the day a dear friend’s wife died; or an instrument of hope and connection to the church before someone walked away from it.

“And he who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” ~ Revelation 21:5

If I seek from God the grace to change; he will be faithful to my prayer. He does not seek those who are perfect – they would have no need of his mercy and grace. It is okay that I am imperfect; as long as I do not stay in that state. Unable to do great things … my heart seeks to change through a series of small acts. As Blessed Mother Teresa taught us, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

SMALL ACTS TO CONSIDER:

Volunteering to bring Communion to the elderly, sick or homebound as a Eucharist Minister
When YOU feel the nudge to reach out to someone via text, email or (gasp) PHONE … do it!
While raking your lawn, keep the fun going into your neighbors
Introduce yourself to those people sitting around you in Mass; dropping or picking up their child from religious education class, or in the carpool line.
Don’t just say, “I’ll pray for you” but DO it; and then follow up on them to see how they are doing
Pick up your kids or spouses … socks; undies; dishes; school bags, etc … with love and no complaints! The day when those are no longer an issue will come FAR QUICKER than desired.
Smile. Just smile … be a JOYFUL Witness to what GOD is doing in your heart (it is contagious)!