It’s the week of Saint Therese of Lisieux, of remembering that the easiest surest way to Heaven, is to do all things, even the littlest, with great love. Saint Therese is one of those doctors whose advice you learn to love by doing the work of it, most especially when you do not want to do the work itself.

Small Success Thursday is about all those little moments. (We planned a party for my daughter’s 13th birthday). We let our ten-year-old pour his own drink. (I worried the whole time). We said “yes” when it would have been easier to say, “no.” and “no” when it would be easier to say “yes.” We made the extra trip. We went to the later Mass to be on time rather than come to the earlier one late. These are not boasts; they were battles, battles we happened to win by grace. We had defeats in the week too, to be sure, when we were too hard, or too distracted, or too tired, to put forth the great love necessary in the little things.

Saint Therese is there, reminding me of the whole purpose of Small Success Thursday. “Climb the stairs to say good night.” Stop and tidy up the room rather than grousing at them. Say "thank you" for the little things and mean it. Loving in the little things means surrendering one’s need to either control the actions of the other, or the outcome of things. The little things we get worked up over, minutes late, extra trips, can be times of stress and irritation or revelations to those we love that we love.

She reveals to us: God loves us this way, because we do all things poorly, distracted, and in a disorganized manner, taking much more time than necessary simply to do what is good, what is just, what is beautiful. God loves us in all the little things we offer, and all that we offer is small.

Here’s hoping your week was full of small offerings of success.

What small successes are you celebrating this week?

Copyright 2018 Sherry Antonetti

About the Author

Sherry Antonetti

Sherry Antonetti

Sherry Antonetti is a Catholic published author, freelance writer and part-time teacher. She lives with her husband and 10 children just outside of Washington, DC, where she's busy editing her upcoming book, A Doctor a Day, to be published by Sophia Institute Press. You can find her other writings linked up at her blog, Chocolate For Your Brain! or on Amazon.