"I recently read a story in which Mother Teresa was in Australia..."

A thought by Kyle Idleman, from his book, One at a Time (p. 38). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)

Mother Teresa understood what this is all about.

Kyle says, "Mother Teresa spent most of her life ministering to the poor and suffering in the slums of Calcutta. I’ve heard dozens of Mother Teresa stories over the years, and she seemed to always see the person in need and know what to do to meet that need."

He continues, "I recently read a story in which Mother Teresa was in Australia and came across an elderly Aborigine man who lived in absolute squalor. Mother Teresa wrote, 'I can assure you that you have never seen a situation as difficult as that poor old man’s.'1

"I imagine myself in that situation, and I’m pretty sure I would feel incapable of helping. But Mother Teresa? She told the man she was going to clean his house, wash his clothes, and make his bed. He said no, but her insistence overcame his refusal.

"While cleaning the house, Mother Teresa discovered a lamp covered with dust. She asked the man, 'Don’t you light your lamp? Don’t you ever use it?'"

"He answered, 'No. No one comes to see me. I have no need to light it. Who would I light it for?'

Kyle goes on,"She asked him if he would light it if the local nuns came to visit. He replied, 'Of course.' That day the local nuns committed to visiting him every evening. Two years later, Mother Teresa said she had completely forgotten that man until she received a message from him: 'Tell my friend that the light she lit in my life continues to shine still.'

"It’s an amazing story. I’m afraid if I met that man, cleaning his house and making his bed wouldn’t occur to me. If I saw a dusty old lamp, I wouldn’t ask, 'Don’t you light your lamp?' I would think, Hmm, that sure is a dusty lamp."

He then says, "I get that using Mother Teresa as an example to follow of loving people one at a time seems a little out of reach. But what strikes me about that story and many others I’ve read about her is the fact that the 'something' she did was usually something I could do. She didn’t write this man a huge check or perform a complicated surgery. She made his bed and washed his clothes."

And God wants to do something in and through us so that He can make a difference in and through us. Yes, yes #continuethought