I have written about this before but it bears repeating. We live in a fantasy world of what should be and could be and what we want life to be, but we miss our own happiness and we fail to uplift others because we ignore all the wonderful acts of insignificance.
Sorting your recycling is a chore. It is a task most people would avoid doing if given the opportunity, but the tremendous vibrations of that insignificant act, which produces a little less waste impacts the whole world. That’s not just hyperbole. All the little insignificant acts that we engage in each and every day, crate a far bigger impact on the world, than the big acts of generosity we see advertised and written about.
Our whole life is really one giant act of insignificance. Insignificant to the world at large that is too busy to notice, but not insignificant at all to the God you believe in, and the universe that takes careful stock of every single minuscule action.
There is beauty and joy in the ordinary. There is beauty in joy in suffering, provided it is meaningful and purposeful. There was a reason Nelson Mandela remained in his prison cell for over twenty seven years, despite the fact that he was given opportunities to be released, but he refused. He new that his act of defiance. His little act of insignificance could eventually change his country and all the people in it. Each day in that prison could not have been glorious. It’s so easy to romanticize and to call him a great leader, and he was, but imagine living day in and day out in that prison cell. Every movement and every action you take seems insignificant and meaningless. Yet, who new that over those many long years one of the greatest leaders was being groomed to become the president of South Africa.
Now examine your life. Take stock of all the little things you do that the busy world will never recognize as important or significant. Think of all the compliments you give out. Think of the conversations you engage in. Think of all the please and thank you’s that enter and exit your being. See all the opened doors, the courteous good mornings, and the millions and millions of things we expect to be there for us, that if they were gone, we would notice how significant insignificance is.
How does all that fruit get to the supermarket? Who stitched your clothing for you? How did you get gas so that you can go from one place to another? I think we could spend the rest of this day coming up with example after example that has so many insignificant gestures in it.
Don’t ever look down. Don’t think of yourself as small. Be comforted by the fact that you are great beyond measure, just invisible and unseen. Being unrecognized an unseen doesn’t diminish or change who you are and what you are meant to do, so be yourself and take courage in all you do.
Learn to love all your little acts of insignificance.
Learn to see and be grateful for all the acts of insignificance you see in others too.
Cover photo generously provided by photographer Magda B via unsplash.com
