“We can do no great things, just small things with great love. It is not how much you do, but how much love you put into doing it.” Mother Teresa
This quote might just be the best quote to sum up my experience in South Africa. I came to South Africa as someone with the mindset of, “I am going to do so many great, big things. I’m going to change the world!” Well I quickly learned that I was not in South Africa to ‘change the world,’ but rather to be formed and informed in ways I never could have predicted. I have realized that doing some little things with a bit of love have actually done more than any big things could. I’ve learned that while walking, greeting someone in their native language with a smile on my face can make someone’s day. I try to go out of my way to greet people as they pass, and although they are often surprised, I can see how happy it has made them. And over the course of the last seven months, I have witnessed some amazing people do amazing things. These amazing things often took the form of little gestures, which may even go unnoticed at some points. But for me, as an active learner, I realized that no matter how small or insignificant something may seem it can be filled with so much love that it makes a large impact.
The last several months have given me the opportunity to get to know Peter and Petro Howe, my supervisors at Tshepo. They have quickly become like family to me, and I can now say I have two sets of adoptive parents in South Africa! I will often get an SMS, (or text message,) just asking how I am doing. They ask questions, and have given me medicine when I was sick and food when I was hungry. And although these may seem trivial, they are so important to me as I continue to live in a country far from my own. I also see their continual love in their work. Petro is the manager of the Tshepo Day Care Center, which provides 154 children two meals a day, clean and fully stocked classrooms, and a safe environment to play in. The amount of work piled on her plate could discourage her from her work, but each day she tirelessly works for the betterment of the care center. She does all of the food shopping for the care center, conducts fundraising and makes sure all of the staff are taken care of. I often see her love for the children of the care center when we first arrive each morning. She gets out of her car and says, “Dumelang bana!” or “Hello children!” And all of the children respond with “Mama! Mama!” The children clearly reciprocate the love she showers them with. She takes a genuine interest in the staff and the lives of everyone she knows. Her husband Pete is someone of great love as well. You can get a sense of who Peter is when he answers his phone when a local moruti, (pastor) calls to discuss their ministry. He shares a jovial dialogue and will always make that extra phone call to make it work. During the last week or two, he has been contacting bus companies nonstop about Tshepo’s upcoming Sea Trip. He is constantly on the move, and is constantly caring for others.
“We can do no great things, just small things with great love. It is not how much you do, but how much love you put into doing it.”
I am a lucky guy because the love is all around me, as I am living in a loving home with caring family members. My host mother is one of the hardest working people I’ve ever met. It’s not rare for her to get home after work, around 6pm, cook dinner, and then continue working on her laptop. And there are often times that she is doing something for the prayer women’s league and church as well. She spends hours after church in meetings and helping assist in ministries in the church. And my host father is constantly doing things for his two congregations. But it is the little things he does that many people won’t see on Sundays that go a long way. He has picked me and fellow volunteers up late at night from the taxi rink down town. He has driven people to the bus station who have needed rides. He will always make a plan and go out of his way to accommodate people when they are in a tough spot. He does all of this for nothing.
“We can do no great things, just small things with great love. It is not how much you do, but how much love you put into doing it.”
Since last January I have had the opportunity to attend weekly prayer meetings with members from my parish. Every Wednesday evening, we will gather at a member’s house and sing hymns and discuss scripture. Most of the time these meetings are in Sesotho, however I tend to catch enough to understand here and there. Each and every week I am amazed by the generosity of the host. The hosts make room for ten or more people every week in their homes and always accommodate. And after we close, we are always served cool drink and some kind of pastry, cake or sweet. This may not seem like a big deal, but I think it takes a lot for someone to welcome a large group of people into their home, especially people they might not even know! And each week, the hosts put a lot into the meetings. It serves as a great way for people to gather and spend time together. The fellowship is wonderful, and there are always smiles and laughter after the meetings.
“We can do no great things, just small things with great love. It is not how much you do, but how much love you put into doing it.”
We should not forget that without love, South Africa could be a very different country than it is today. Madiba, (Nelson Mandela,) and the other leaders during the transition from Apartheid had love in their hearts. There was love for their enemies, for the poor, for the marginalized, and for South Africans. This is a country where little gestures with great love happen every day. I don’t see little acts of kindness as being small insignificant acts. I see them as small things with great love, and I think as Americans we can learn a lot from this.
We should never forget the power of love. We should never underestimate love. We should never let love disappear from our daily acts. Our current society of political polarization, economic injustice, and war suggests we have forgotten what love really means. But I have seen that there is hope when I witness the daily acts I see each day by people who really know how to love.
The Apostle Paul poetically describes love in his first letter to the Corinthians when he writes:
“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice its wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7.
Let us not stray far from Paul’s definition of love, and let us remember that it is not how much we do, but how much love we put into doing it.
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