For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,
Benjamin Franklin
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For the want of a horse the rider was lost,
For the want of a rider the battle was lost,
For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail.
You see, Franklin understood that small things matter. The small “thank you we didn’t say”, the polite, “No, you go first,” matters. Letting another car into a space, matters. The holding of a child’s hand matters. A couple of items delivered to the food bank matter. Money donated to the needy matters.
For want of a small kindness on our part, someone suffers. Oh, we may not know them or even see them, but someday heaven will hold us both and we will have to answer for our cold-heartedness.
Can’t we make numerous small efforts during a day so that others might have the opportunity to win their battle? Would it hurt us to be the small nail in someone’s life? Each one of us has the power to change our small corner of the world in some small way. Our small acts give some person some hope for their future.
My brother need not be idealized beyond what he was in life, to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. As he said many times, ‘Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.’
From Robert Kennedy’s eulogy to his brother John Kennedy
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31, NASB)
Prayer- God, help us be the one who changes the life of another in some small way. Amen.
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