Passage Seventeen: Nothing Small
Those who would be great
Are least of all.
Those who are faithful
In all the little things
Discover
There is nothing small
Or unimportant.
When you look upon
With caring and concern,
That is important.
When you inspire another,
When you offer encouragement,
That is important.
The truth is in all things,
But in the things
That are close at hand,
We can see it most clearly.
Things like being
Considerate in little ways
Are not little at all.
Things like being
Inconsiderate in little ways
Are not little at all.
Things like patience,
Things like kindness,
Turn out to be
Anything but small.
They turn out to be
So big
There is no getting to
The end of them.
Our everyday troubles
And how we deal with them
And how we deal with failing
To deal with them well
Are not just things we must get past.
These are things
We must go through,
And through them learn
And grow.
These are not tests
We pass or fail.
These are the kind
That teach us.
If all we learn
Is patience,
If all we learn
Is compassion,
These are not
Small things.
These are among
The most important things
In all of creation.
There is nothing sacred,
Of which
They are not parts.
