The Lens:
Many years ago, I somehow managed to become the traffic lady at my son’s elementary school. I’ll tell you, that was one crappy job – especially in the beginning when we were trying to establish traffic protocols.
It got better as time went on but it was still a crappy job. I remember one of my cousin’s reaction when I said I was the traffic lady at my son’s school. She said, “Everyone hates our traffic lady.”
Fortunately, that wasn’t the case for me, though I made a few enemies. But, as I have said (and can’t say enough), it was a crappy job. There were many days in the several years of doing this that I thought why am I doing this. I am a volunteer. I should just walk away.
Then someone would come up to me and say “Thank you for what you are doing,” or “Thank you for keeping our kids safe,” and I would be reluctantly rejuvenated and keep going.
A simple “thank you.” Very powerful.
As I have said before, teaching is a tiring profession. Pandemic teaching exhausting. I teach in a parochial school and we are fortunate to have a wonderful principal. She frequently offers thanks for what we do. She also provides small gifts here and there, often inspirational.
One of those gifts was a book called “Do Something Beautiful for God, The Essential Teachings of Mother Teresa.” It is written like a daily reflection. Each day is a quote, I believe, meant to challenge us to be more God-like.
With all of the stress of pandemic teaching, I have had trouble sleeping. I have been looking for a good meditative practice to clear my mind before I go to bed, in the hopes of a good night’s sleep.
One of the nightly rituals I have adopted is to read the day’s quote from Mother Teresa. Some are somewhat simple reflections: “Some people come in our life as blessings. Some come in your life as lessons.” Others require quite a bit more contemplation: “Do you want to do something beautiful for God? There is a person who needs you. This is your chance.”
Sometimes I go back and reread some of the quotes because there is so much to take in. I can see that to become a truly meditative person requires much more than I am devoting to it now. A work in progress – as most things are when we first get started.
The Reflection:
Are you still reading? Do you believe in God? It is funny when we start talking about God, it becomes a completely different conversation.
How many people would pass over this book in a bookstore because of the title – “Do Something Beautiful for God?” What if the book were titled, “Do Something Beautiful for Yourself,” or “Do Something Beautiful for Humankind” or simply “Do Something Beautiful” instead? How many more people would be inclined to pick it up to take a look?
If I may be presumptuous, I would say Mother Teresa saw God in everything. God was everything. She had a faith I don’t know or understand, a faith I sometimes wish I had.
When I read her words, I have a hard time understanding the meaning behind some of them, and/or applying them literally. Today’s reflection (March 21) states, “True love is about giving; and giving until it hurts.” I understand true love is about giving. I am not sure how to interpret giving until it hurts.
Still, I take her words and put my meaning to them. On one hand, I don’t see love as something that should cause pain. On the other hand, there are times when love does hurt. I think about letting go of someone you love for their benefit, not your own. Am I on target or completely off base? I have no idea. Even if it isn’t what she means or far from it, it is a start.
And, when it comes to doing God’s work, whether you believe in God or not, it is all about our interpretation of what God’s work is. I don’t think there is only one answer to what that is.
I go back to the alternate titles I suggested at the beginning of the reflection and how the marketability of the book might change by tweaking the title. I couldn’t imagine Mother Teresa choosing one of these titles. There would be no point to her words without God.
For those of us who lack that kind of devotion or maybe don’t believe in God at all, we can still take her words and see how, while she is talking about doing something beautiful for God, she is also saying doing something beautiful for yourself, for humankind, just plain doing something beautiful.
Even if you don’t believe in God, we can do something beautiful. We all are humankind. If we can’t do something beautiful for ourselves, what chance does humankind have?