A "Little Way" Forward

If there is anything maddening about the current moment, it is the enormity of the challenge, and the inability to do much about it.

To be sure, there is great heroism showing up all around us, with healthcare workers saving so many lives by risking their own. But for the vast majority of us, our contribution is confinement – limiting the spread of the virus by erasing our footprint, and removing ourselves from society.

It can be hard to feel any heroism in that.

But we need to find meaning in that, too, because we have to. For inspiration I turned to Ste. Therese of Lisieux, a French nun from the 19th century and author of the beloved “The Story of a Soul”.

She is famed for her “Little Way” – the idea that one can find meaning and purpose in the ordinary. Not just in grand gestures and epic accomplishments, but in the mundane tasks of everyday life.

Because God is found there, too.

What does that mean in the here and now? It might mean making dinner with the family, and actually sharing with each other rather than looking at screens. It might mean reading a book you’ve always wanted to read. It might mean going for longer walks with your dog, or playing football or chess with your children.

In other words, doing small things with great love.

That’s what it has meant for me, and that’s no small lesson. But it does require a shift of mindset, away from a society that is built around doing things and going places. Nature is demonstrating our essential powerlessness right now, and we have to come to terms with that.

It feels like a work is being done in us, of showing us what is truly important and what isn’t. We are being altered, all of us – our minds our changing, our plans, our perceptions. Things we used to think were critical have vanished from our thoughts, and other, surprising things have come up in their place.

In fact, it feels appropriate that all this is taking place around the Easter season. As always, there are lessons in the deepest tragedies. We’ll emerge on the other side of this, and the world will have changed, and we’ll have changed too.

So if you feel like you’re not having much of an impact right now, take a moment and think about Ste. Therese of Lisieux. She too was confined, so to speak, and had limited reach. All she had to offer was the daily actions of her life, and her love for the people around her. And yet her impact still radiates across centuries.

Maybe we can find meaning in small spaces, too, and little acts of kindness. We’re saving lives by what we don’t do, and that’s something.

So the question is: What’s your Little Way?