Our basement is stashed with estate sale finds, piles of laundry, odds and ends furniture, and BOOKS.

They distract me as I prepare to run. Sometimes I peruse a book for 30 minutes before I hit the ole mill. Guess it’s just another way of procrastinating. Tonight I read something I want you to hear, too. I feel like someone out there needs to read it. I’m sensing it’s no accident I came across these words:

What counts is not what we do, not the amount of things we do, but the love we put into our actions, since those actions are our love for God in action.

Some visitors to Calcutta asked me to tell them something that would be useful for them to lead their lives in a more profitable way. I answered, “Smile at each other. Smile at your wives, at your husbands, at your children, at all, without looking at the one at whom you are smiling. Let mutual love for others grow each day in all of you.” At this point one of them asked me, “Are you married?” 

I answered, “Yes, I am married to Jesus. And sometimes it is difficult for me to smile at Him because He is too demanding.” 

It is true: sometimes Jesus can ask too much of you. But it is in such moments that our smile becomes more beautiful. ~Mother Teresa

This “hit the nail on the head” in multiple ways. That first part tells me to stop trying to do/be so much. Relish the moments of reading to the kids, dancing with the whole family, making cookie messes in the kitchen…The part about smiling is exactly what I do every day, and many people don’t quite “get” it. That is okay. I am just wired to really love on people. Even grouchy, hurried strangers.

And that last part makes me think of my StoryGirl. Ladies, those of you with daughters, will you share the above tidbit with them? The beauty thing is hard. I recently heard a talk on self-esteem in teens and the statistics are staggering. The media portrays images of girls and women, constantly, that are too lofty to obtain. There’s no realism there, just special lighting and computer touch-ups. It’s a really sad thing.

I want Story to know that she is special, beautiful, one-of-a-kind. It will be a challenge to teach her that the heavenly treasures of her heart are far more valuable than the treasures of the world. God made her great, right where she is. She is a princess to Him, and His standards are the only ones that bear any validity.

(step 1 in teaching/learning: it’s okay to post “gnarly” photos of self!)

Lord, thank you for all those books (and for the smell of paper!) in the basement, oh, and for leading me to such a “filling” Mother Teresa tid-bit. It feels good to be full.