“Be There in 18 Minutes”
Did you know that Mother Teresa said she felt like God only ever spoke to her one time, even though she devoted her whole life to spreading the love and teachings of Jesus? She wrote “dark letters” which described how she felt empty and like God was silent toward her. She struggled to understand this lack of communication from Him, yet still devoted her life in service to Christ. Her words:
“Jesus has a very special love for you. As for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear,” she wrote the Rev. Michael van der Peet in September 1979.
“Please pray specially for me that I may not spoil His work and that Our Lord may show Himself — for there is such terrible darkness within me, as if everything was dead,” she wrote in 1953. “It has been like this more or less from the time I started ‘the work.’”
Over the last couple years, I’ve willingly put myself through some major life changes… it made me think back on each choice that led me to today, and how a single experience can change the course of life. Mother Teresa only heard from God one time, yet that was still enough for her to continue her good works. Her story inspired me to write this:
Can you feel love for someone after one date?
I don’t know.. you tell me..
How many meals does a homeless person have to be offered to remember what kindness feels like?
How many sparks does a house fire need for you to feel like you lost everything?
How many heart beats do you need to hear during a sonogram to feel that you created the miracle of life?
How many times do you give your child back to your ex before you feel the weight of emptiness in their absence?
How many shooting stars do you see before you feel the enchantment of making a wish?
How many times do you have to be hit to realize the feelings of fear and violence?
How many videos of children being reunited with their military parent do you watch until you feel moved by unbreakable love?
How many loved ones do you bury before you feel the sting of death?
How many animal rescue stories do you have to see to feel relentless hope for better days ahead?
How many times do you get diagnosed with cancer before you feel every moment of living after that?
How many unexplainable and beautiful things do you have to experience to feel that a miracle has happened, and believe that it’s possible again?
So…
…
…
…
Go on that date.
❤️
We know the story in the Book of Exodus where Moses parts the sea, leaves on his journey to receive the 10 commandments, and when he returns 40 days later, the same people who witnessed this miracle were worshipping statues of golden cows! What a different story than Mother Teresa, who spent her entire lifetime trusting her one experience hearing God, but never reverted back to life before witnessing a miracle. What we can learn from these stories is to appreciate every miracle we receive in life, and to remember that even if it’s only one, we should treasure it, apply it to our lives, and never let it go. How many miracles have you witnessed?
Written by: Michelle TK
Source of quotes used above: