“Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.” ~ St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta
We are definitely a “numbers’ based” kind of people. We count everything from the time we are old enough to count. We want to make sure that we have more than others. We want to garner more awards than anyone else. We want to gain more recognition than others. Numbers are very important to us.
Society considers numbers important as well. We are in the midst of numbers right now in terms of the upcoming elections. We have numbers reflected in polls. We have numbers in terms of delegates that could be won. We have numbers in terms of election results. People make big money when they are able to sway the numbers one way or another.
Mother Teresa tells us not to worry about numbers. She knew, when it came to living the life of a Christian, that numbers could easily overwhelm us. How many people did we aid? How many lives did we touch? Did our parish do a better job than another parish? Do we have more students than another school? Numbers, numbers, numbers.
For Mother Teresa, the most important number appeared to be the number one. We are supposed to help one person at a time. We are to touch the life of one person before moving on to the next. We are to try our best to win one soul over for the Lord.
That one person should be our entire vision and concentration. Once that one person was done — whether it be the food that they needed, the comfort that they needed, or some other aid required — we could then move on to the next one. One by one, we are to change the world.
That advice is so sage. If we try to win over the entire world, we will quickly lose sight of our goal and become way too overwhelmed. If, on the other hand, we take it one step at a time and one person at a time, our mission in life becomes easier to do and easier to accomplish.
Even when Jesus told His disciples to go out into the whole world and tell the Good News, He knew that it was going to be done on an individual basis. When Jesus was in large groups, He took the time to recognize and minister to individual needs.
If we could just embrace that advice, our lives would be much more complete and less stressful. So, go out into the world today. Change the entire world if you are up to the challenge. Just do it one person at a time.
FAITH ACTION: Pray for the grace to focus upon individuals’ needs today.