As I write about Mother Teresa today, I wonder if anyone will ever be as selfless and loving as she was. Perhaps when God created her, He placed more charity and love in her than anyone else, except for His Son, Jesus Christ. In a world so out of focus, she is the person we all wish we could be, but I doubt that anyone else will make such an immense contribution to fighting for those in poverty as she did. She wanted to give hope to those who had lost it, and she recognized the face of the Lord in all who suffered. When touching those who were suffering, she believed that she was touching the living body of Christ. Like Christ, she comforted the afflicted and afflicted the comfortable. No task was too large, no request was ever denied.
Mother Teresa believed that a simple smile is the first act of love; it shows that we love God. Throughout her life, she maintained that every drop of love we share with others is as powerful as all of the world’s vast oceans, but if we do not love, the love will go missing from the earth forever. We cannot curse people when God loves us. It is so hard to build loving bridges to others; it is so much easier to destroy those bridges when we put our own needs above the needs of everyone else.
She believed wherever she went, Christ walked beside her, counseling her, guiding her, and loving her. All we need to do is to take His hand, and He will lead us in directions we think are impossible. We must never fear being a contradiction to what the world says is right, because when we walk with God, He is the light in our darkened world. His Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths. Mother Teresa believed that the work she did was God’s, and if He wanted the work to continue, He would provide for her needs and the needs of her Sister of Charity Mission. Believing her life belonged to God, she would do what He called her to do. God didn’t bring others to us so that they could help us. He brought us to others so that we could help them.
Mother Teresa lived what she believed and what she asked others to do. “What does it profit, my brethen, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?” (James 2: 14 KJV) If you want to transform lives, communities, and nations, you must proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ through you loving actions. It will be hard having difficult conversations with those who do not believe. Acts of kindness must become an important part of who you are, even if you are tired. Dark and dirty places must be traveled to so that His light will illuminate those corners of the world where there is no hope. We must be generous even if that generosity takes our last penny. Forgiving those who have deeply hurt us is hard, but forgive we must. Pray every minute of every day not just when it suits our schedules. As Mother Teresa was the guardian angel for the down trodden, we must reach out to everyone around us to be the light of Christ for them. When her heart began to fail, doctors wanted Mother Teresa to rest. She responded, “I will have all the time to rest in heaven. Now, I must go and serve the Lord here on earth.” Will you rest here on the earth or will you be an extension of Mother Teresa’s love to serve others?
How many of us consider ourselves to be a pencil in God’s hand? That’s what Mother Teresa called herself, a pencil in God’s hands. She pushed herself to re-write the laws of generosity, hope, perseverance, honor, duty, peace, and love so that all would know there is another way to counter poverty, war, racism, hatred, the break up of families, violence, childhood diseases, and governmental inaction to problems faced by their citizens. Man loses his dignity to many things but never through love. Are you willing to be the pencil, the instrument, in God’s hands? What are you willing to sacrifice for a better world? Through her unconditional love, Mother Teresa recognized that she could be the reason that the world changed. Only through us will God’s will become known to all. And just maybe, God planned for us to be more like Mother Teresa than what we have become. It’s not too late to erase the dark smudges of our leaden lives, to rewrite our futures with her heart of gold.
Anna Hartt
