One Obscure Tiny Woman: Mother Teresa

She was an obscure woman in an obscure place, yet she was projected by God onto the world stage. She never married, nor bore children from her womb, but she married her calling from God and she married Christ whom she adored; and the children “born of her love are numerous. Like Elijah before King Ahab, or Moses before Pharaoh, or John Knox before bloody Queen Mary, this little woman stood before “King and Queen Clinton, and spoke fearlessly God’s Word concerning the precious value of life before the audience of the world. This little woman who rose from obscurity as she labored incessantly amidst squalor and extreme poverty in one of the  most populous countries in the world, now is the name, other than Jesus, who most comes to mind epitomizing one who lived to serve others.
Known as mother Teresa, this woman of Calcutta, once said: “Don’t look at the numbers, start with serving one, the one closest to you. Treat that one with kindness and love them as yourself. I have been in India, and in some of the poorest places in the world, and the numbers are staggering of people in misery needing help. If mother Teresa had looked at the numbers and been mired in wondering what could little she do to even begin to address the overwhelming need before her eyes, we cannot imagine the enormity of loss over what would not have been done for so many. Carefully consider the text above as it says serve ONE another. The focus is on beginning with ONE and letting God lead you from there. The numbers confound, ONE can be done. Jesus’ point in His parable of the lost sheep is that the shepherd left the ninety-nine sheep to find one that was lost. The rejoicing in heaven over one lost sheep that was found expresses God’s joy in the salvation of individuals. We are not an obscure number lost in the masses, we are ONE loved unique individual whom God knows and loves completely, and calls to join Him in doing the same. Love and serve ONE at a time, and let God lead you from there.
Mother Teresa did not seek the world stage, she sought only to help the one closest to her, one at a time, and God used this small, frail woman to help millions, many who would not have survived childhood, or even infancy. “So what, many say or by their nonchalance and disinterest say it in their life’s attitude; because they do not see the truth that they may be the ONE of the ninety and nine the Shepherd seeks to find and save, the one who desperately needs being rescued. Do you see and value yourself in the place of the one lost sheep the shepherd left the others to find and bring home? If you do not, He probably hasn’t, and you are still un-rescued out in the dark wilderness waiting to be found.
If you do not appreciate the “Hound of Heaven who with “unhurrying chase, and unperturbed pace, deliberate speed, and majestic instancy, tracked you down and made you his own, then the text above will mean little to you and will not inspire you to follow in his train. But if so, set the eyes of your heart on being kind to the one God sets in your path next, and serving them to the end that they will be the lost sheep that is found, and the once lost sheep that He still does keep.