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"I’m just watching Mrs. Smith come home. I know her heart is breaking, because her only daughter died of leukemia a few months ago. I don’t know what to do or what to say, but I wish there was something." Anna went back to chopping vegetables. A few minutes later she looked out the window again, and there was her little girl knocking at the neighbor’s door. When Mrs. Smith stepped outside, Lilly began talking and reached up to hand the older woman something. Mrs. Smith suddenly got down on her knees and began hugging Lilly tightly. Her body shook, as if she were sobbing. Then Lilly skipped back across the street. "What did you do?" Anna asked. "Well, you told me that her heart was breaking, so I took her a Band-Aid," the little girl explained. Three weeks later, Mrs. Smith stopped by. She showed Lilly and Anna a Plexiglas key ring: through one side, a picture of Mrs. Smith’s daughter was visible; through the other, a small-Band-Aid. The Band-Aid, she said, reminded her that her heart would heal, through the love that she was receiving from people who cared about her. This story offers a wonderful lesson in compassion, but Lilly’s mom learned something else as well. She learned a key component of greatness that’s easy to overlook. She learned that there’s no reason to postpone doing what your heart knows is right. You don’t have to wait to be great. Begin now. We all want great lives, right? It’s just that we may have some funny ideas about what constitutes greatness. We may equate it with celebrity or public accomplishment: winning an Oscar® or leading the next NASA expedition. But the likelihood that we’ll wind up with a statue in our hand or the moon beneath our feet seems sufficiently remote that we may willingly exchange greatness for "good enough." How readily we dismiss those dreams as childish fantasy! After all, most people go their entire lives without once being asked for their autographs. The truth is, we are born for greatness. God endows us with the potential to live a great life. A great person is one who is respected and well loved, makes a difference in the lives of others, and is remembered beyond his or her lifetime. A great person makes dreams come true that benefit others. A great person leaves a mark. We all have this capacity. How many of us choose to exercise our divine potential is another matter. Greatness is not born of luck or talent; it is a product of habit and hard work. No matter your natural talent, your fingers won’t play Chopin the first time they touch a piano. You have to practice. Nobody builds strong muscles by lounging on the sofa. You have to exercise. Likewise, nobody achieves greatness by endless daydreaming. Greatness begins with goodness. You have to engage in spiritual practice, consciously doing good on a daily basis, until you evolve into greatness as a way of life. For months, Anna genuinely desired to assist her neighbor, but her fear of saying or doing something inadequate prevented her from doing anything at all. An act of kindness doesn’t require fanfare, bows and ribbons, or the perfect moment for presentation. From her daughter, Anna learned that any action that comes from the heart — like simply offering a Band-Aid to someone who’s hurting — can make a tremendous difference. Imagine the difference in your own life if you pledged to do one great thing a day! This spiritual practice may sound daunting at first; you might plead busyness or worry, "How on Earth can I come up with something great to do every single day?" Look at it this way: Suppose that somebody gave you $86,400 today. Now imagine what you would do with that money. There are no strings attached. Spend the money however you please. You did nothing to deserve it. There are no taxes due. The next day, you get another $86,400, and every subsequent day from now on. The only rule is that the money doesn’t accrue. You don’t have any to go over to the next day. In fact, you do receive that kind of gift every day. You are given 86,400 seconds a day. You have done nothing to deserve this fortune, yet there are no strings attached. However you choose to spend or waste those seconds, they do not accrue at the end of the day. Those 86,400 seconds are gone. The next day, you are given another 86,400 seconds to spend as you choose – add them together, and they amount to your lifetime. Were you to treat those precious seconds as dollars, might you be less likely to squander them? In recognition of your wealth, might you be more generous? With all those seconds allotted to you, couldn’t you spare a few on greater living? An act of greatness is any task, behavior, or deed performed in a loving way. You can practice greatness through service, through praise and acknowledgement, in your work, and in building a dream. A great deed, as Lilly demonstrated, can be very simple. There is a child who needs a book read to him or her, an elderly neighbor who needs company. There’s a friend right now who could use your support. Make the call. By pledging an act of greatness a day, you engage in the spiritual practice of turning intention into action. Ask yourself, on a daily basis, Am I looking for people to praise? Making somebody else feel great is a true act of greatness. Consider, too, assisting others anonymously. Perform a loving act for someone else without taking any credit. And what about your career? Do you feel great about your job? You manifest greatness not from the work you do, but from the way you do your work. Whether you cut hair, do laundry, wash floors, teach children, or run a corporation, practice work as high, sacred art. Arrive a little early; give a little more than you think you’re paid for. If you have a creative idea, share it, or a technique that helps, teach it. Bolster the confidence of your co-workers with kind words. Martin Luther King Jr. put it best: "Not all men are called to specialized or professional jobs; even fewer rise to the heights of genius in the arts and sciences; many are called to be laborers in factories, fields, and streets. But no work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence. If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and Earth will pause to say, "Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.’ " Making dreams come true is another hallmark of a great individual. We move from, "I wish…" to "I am…" by taking a step to manifest our deepest desire. Ask yourself, "If I believed my dream was not impossible, what might I do next?" Then take that step. Henry David Thoreau wrote, "If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life which he had imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours." Every step toward building a dream is a step toward greatness. Remember: Greatness is your destiny, but it’s never going to arrive at your doorstep like Ed McMahon with a letter from Publisher’s Clearinghouse. Greatness is neither fleeting nor fantasy. Do a single act of greatness today, then tomorrow, and the next, and soon you will discover that the great life you once believed elusive is the very one you’re leading. Mary Manin Morrissey, author of No Less Than Greatness: Finding Perfect Love in Imperfect Relationships, is senior minister at Living Enrichment Center in Wilsonville, Oregon. August 8-11, Mary and author Alan Cohen will lead a workshop on "Dreaming Your Greatness into the Field of Possibilities" at the Western Unity Region Vacation Celebration at Crystal Mountain, Washington. Visit <http://websyte.com/unity/crystalmountain/> for information. |
A woman
recently told me how she’d gaze out her kitchen window while
making dinner and sigh as her elderly neighbor passed by. "I
wish there was something I could do," Anna thought. The
older woman who once walked with such vigor and purpose now moved
slowly, listlessly, shoulders drooping. One evening, Anna’s
six-year-old daughter followed her gaze, asking, "Mommy,
what are you looking at?"