Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The Little Things

Therese Martin was born in 1873, in France. The youngest of five sisters, she was the little princess. Spoiled to bits. Never did chores, and expected everything to be handed to her. Then, one day, when she was fourteen, her reign of terror ended. She changed into a docile teenager who wanted to be a nun. She went into a convent with some of her sisters and lived there until her death at the age of 24. While there, she struggled with her faith. Therese wanted to be a saint and do miracles, but she felt small and insignificant. So the short little nun dedicated herself to the little sacrifices in life. She never asked for anything, and submitted to everyone else. She ate whatever the nuns put in front of her. Which apparently led them to give her all the leftovers no one else would eat. Therese did all the chores she could find and helped out whenever she could. And she never complained.

I'm not catholic anymore, and I don't wanna be a nun. But I have to admire Therese's attitude. Her life was all about the little things. Modern day, for me, that means cleaning dishes whenever they're in the sink, buying my dad a Dean Martin cd, and trying to tell someone daily that they're awesome.
This is not to pat myself on the back. I don't always enjoy this stuff. For example, I hate having to feed my animals. It's nasty, and I'd rather let my mom do it. But I made a blog to keep up with myself, and this is what I've been doing.
So Therese has taught me to look for the little ways I can serve other people.


But that singing Reverend Mother from Sound of Music is still my favorite nun of all time.

1 comment:

  1. She sounds a little bit like Cinderella, only no fancy dress, shoes, or ball dancing. Or fairy godmother. LOL

    But really, we should all be practicing more humility like she did. Thanks for sharing!

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