My friend was nearing the end of teaching her session at one of our online events, and I followed her in the lineup. Our habit during these sessions was to provide an introduction of the follow-up speaker to connect to our audience. I felt the undertow of realizing this was one of my last events and diverted my attention to the other aspects of keeping the different parts of the event running. As is very often the case for any event, there was a slip and some confusion, so my friend, thinking someone else was doing the intro, ended her time. I realized what had happened and began my session, not calling attention to what I knew was a miscommunication. During one of our breaks, I said it didn’t matter. I insisted nothing be done to attempt a recovery and that we’d press on. Still, my friend and I regretted missing something that seemed small but an omission to each of us.
Later in the day, as I was getting ready to close our time for the evening, the speaker before me ended her remarks and then started speaking again. I knew in an instant what she was doing. She was giving the missed introduction. As I took it in, I felt a swell of gratitude. Without being told or coached, this fellow leader kindly, without fanfare, filled the gap.
Have you ever received a small kindness and wanted the whole world to stop and realize what just happened? That is because kindness is an act of beauty that captures our attention.
My friend did a small thing with great love.
What small things done with great love are getting your attention?
Here are a few of mine from this past week.
A Thanksgiving meal where each dish on the table was someone’s contribution to the meal. Even the table setting was a kind act from one of my beauty-loving children.
An adult child pushing through on the finishing touches on the Christmas tree while the rest of us, exhausted, watched with gratitude.
Another adult child volunteered to drive to the grocery store for the last forgotten ingredient. No act of kindness, however small, is wasted.
You likely may know where this blog title came from.
Mother Teresa is often quoted as saying:
Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.
Mother Teresa
Where are you celebrating small things done with great love?