Love is enough.

Mother Teresa is one of my dearest spiritual teachers. I have loved her since I was a small child, and even more so since the deconstruction and rebirth of my faith. I was recently reading (another) biography of hers and in it the author spoke about how the Mother would respond when people said that her work was so small compared to the great destruction throughout the world, that it was only a drop in the ocean. Her response...

"I do not add up. I only subtract from the total number of poor or dying. With children one dollar saves a life. Could you say one dollar buys a life? No, but it is used to save it. So we use ourselves to save what we can."

 This was always her mentality, with all things. Rather than dwelling on what was lacking or what could not be done, she put all of her energy into each moment and interaction. Her life was a series of intimate moments with thousands of people, each one changed by the crossing of their paths.

The same day I read that was a day that we were having a special kids camp in the village, where we would teach, play with, and feed nearly a hundred children. It's a wonderful event that is both difficult and rewarding! As we were doing this, I pointed out to my friend/leader that I wished I could pull one girl aside to braid her hair. She told me a bit about this child, that her brother and parents had AIDS. They left her and her brother with their grandmother each day, who was usually extremely drunk.

I wished I could take her and her brother away with me, I wished I could remove them from this life of suffering. I realized that this story was not unique, almost every child in this center has experienced abuse of some form. Yet when they came to this place, they could be children again. Here they could play and eat, they could be with people who see their pain and love them when they have nothing to offer. Here they were safe and cherished, even if only for a few hours each week.

I often lose sight of this perspective. I get so overwhelmed with the pain and suffering of the world that I forget to see the hope. In all honesty, occasionally I will suddenly be struck with all of the pain- I will once again realize that each day so many are being abused, starved, evacuated, and abandoned. In these moments I usually sob for a few hours until I can finally fall asleep. This happens more often than I'd like to admit.

I forget what Mother Teresa carried with her always, a focus on what can be done rather than what cannot. When she didn't have the means to give money or medicine, she gave kindness. She gave all that she had, even when all she had was a warm smile and gentle hands. In these moments, love is enough. It's not about whether we can save the whole world, because we simply can't. It's about realizing that what we have is enough for this moment, and every moment hereafter.