Little Things
“Canoe Club Quill,” January 2011. Excerpt from "Beloved", a collection of my writings.
“Little deeds of kindness, little words of love, help to make earth happy, like the heaven above.”
So wrote Julia F. Carney and I think she’s right. Much of life consists of small deeds, mundane conversations, and decisions of moderate significance and it’s easy to think that because of this “smallness”, your life doesn’t amount to much.
But when I think of my own life, the things I’ve learned and how I’ve been shaped and how I’ve made an impact on others, I realize that significant things can come from little things. Patting someone’s arm when they were sad, paying a compliment, giving a smile. Maybe it was one line in a book that I needed at just the right time. How many times has someone made my day or helped me through a difficult situation just in something small like that?
I’d like to pay more attention to the little things in life that I can do to help and encourage others. I’d like to value those things and not write them off because they are small. It’s something I hope we can all grow into doing.
J. Carney, American educator and poet, 1823-1908.
“Little deeds of kindness, little words of love, help to make earth happy, like the heaven above.”
So wrote Julia F. Carney and I think she’s right. Much of life consists of small deeds, mundane conversations, and decisions of moderate significance and it’s easy to think that because of this “smallness”, your life doesn’t amount to much.
But when I think of my own life, the things I’ve learned and how I’ve been shaped and how I’ve made an impact on others, I realize that significant things can come from little things. Patting someone’s arm when they were sad, paying a compliment, giving a smile. Maybe it was one line in a book that I needed at just the right time. How many times has someone made my day or helped me through a difficult situation just in something small like that?
I’d like to pay more attention to the little things in life that I can do to help and encourage others. I’d like to value those things and not write them off because they are small. It’s something I hope we can all grow into doing.
J. Carney, American educator and poet, 1823-1908.
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