We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love
Seeking Greatness
When I was small, I wanted to be famous. Maybe a great singer or an actress. So everyone would love me. My search for love and validation was evident even then. As I matured and realised that service was one of my innate needs to feel useful, I began to speculate about being of great service to the world. I didn’t realise it then, but my needs had not changed much from those of the little girl who just wanted to be loved.
As we age, we typically develop a greater need for meaning in our lives. Or rather, the interpretation of what is meaningful changes. Mother Teresa had it right when, in this famous quote, she contended that we cannot do great things on this earth, only small things with great love. That is because of our interpretation of greatness. There is a part of us that thinks achieving something with a big impact is more meaningful than something small. But as the wise Mother Teresa knew, that’s simply not the case at all.
There are no hierarchies in love
Quantum science has shown we are all connected. Once you realise this, then it becomes clear that achieving great things is all about carrying out acts of love. When I was younger, I had a phobia of spiders, as do many of us I know. If there were a spider in the house or near me, I would probably shriek until someone killed it. When I matured and realised we are all connected, it just didn’t seem tenable to go around killing anything deliberately. One of the great things I have achieved is overcoming my phobia of spiders. When I encounter one, I can stay calm enough to gently remove it and put it outside.
Martin Luther King is a leader I greatly admire for the significant achievements he made in advancing the Civil Rights movement. To do what he did, he had to take himself out of his comfort zone and make his best attempts to raise the world’s consciousness to the inequality that was all around him. An act of great love. Love is love, whether you are saving the lives of spiders or seeking to end suffering for many people.
Small things with great love count
What has become clear to me is that you don’t have to be famous to be great. You don’t have to carry out acts of love which impact humankind. What makes you great is your ability to extend love, no matter if that is to a spider or a whole race. Achieving either is worthy of recognition of your greatness
