When I was
seven I was at a baseball game, hanging out around the concession stands when
my neighbor, Mr. Lambert, called me over.
He said,
“Mike, come here. I want to give you
He then
reached into his pocket and handed me a shiny fifty-cent piece.
Mr. Lambert then said, “Here, I want
you to have this.” He handed it to me,
smiled and walked away.
I thought I had won the lottery. For one moment in time Mr. Lambert recognized
me.
It was a small thing. The fifty cents hardly made a dent in his
income stream, but to this seven-year-old, it was a large moment. The money lasted about ten minutes. The memory, almost sixty years now.
Mother Theresa tells a story of
offering to clean an old man’s house for him.
After many refusals, he finally agreed.
During the cleaning, she discovered an old and lovely lamp covered in
dust. She asked if he ever lighted the
lamp.
He answered, “No.
No one comes to see me. I have no
need to light it. Who would I light it
for?”
She asked, “Would you light it every night if the sisters
came?”
He replied, “Of course.”
From that day on the sisters committed themselves to
visiting him every evening. They cleaned
the lamp, and would light it every evening.
Two years passed.
Mother Teresa had completely forgotten that man when he sent a message
to her: “Tell my friend that the light she lit in my life continues to shine
still.”
She says, “I thought it was a very small thing. We often neglect small things.”
~In the Heart of the World – Mother Teresa
You see, sometimes we light a light in someone’s
life that never goes out.
What a small act.
What a large impression.
P Michael Biggs
Offering Hope
Encouragement
Inspiration
One Word at a Time