With the sunset approaching the small one pondered his day
- his allotted time. Looking back he was filled with regret for all the
things he had wanted to accomplish that day but had not. As his mind
drifted into the limbo of evening he reviewed what had been
accomplished – and was saddened that all he had managed were a few
tiny ripples in the pond of life. Then the night sprites began to weave
their dream coverlets and to work the twilight magics and the dream
faeries began their waltz. Suddenly in the spaces between voices began
to answer his doubts.
“Why do you despair?”, they asked in a sweet gentle song. “You
have done much this day.” The little one reflected, and tallied the day’s
events. He had held a friend close and whispered that everything would be
right as they started down their path, he had stopped to move a limb from the
path as he strolled along, he had cleared some rubbish and clutter someone
had left from along the path. As he catalogued the day he saw nothing of
importance in his day – and now the day was past and it was too late.
With a gentle lilting laughter the voices answered his unspoken
thoughts, “You simply do not see the total – shall we tell you what you
have done this day?” The little one nodded and braced to be told how badly
he had failed.
“You offered comfort to a friend – had you not they would have
spent their day in despair and would not have done anything. Because you
took the time to care they touched others as you touched them. By days end
your act of compassion had brightened hundreds of lives that otherwise
would have been sad today. To have done that is a great thing indeed, it made
the world a better place to live in today.”
“You stopped to remove an obstacle from the path. The one behind you
was in a hurry and would have stumbled over that limb – falling they would have
been hurt and would have set in motion a series of events that would have
cascaded causing many tasks to be incomplete today. By your act of caring you
allowed today to unfold as it should have.”
“You saw the carelessness of another and picked up for them. By
clearing the rubbish and clutter the sun was able to make the flowers grow and
bloom where they would have withered and died. By your act you added beauty
to the path as others traveled. Because a flower bloomed a butterfly fed and flew
out to brighten the world with its dance upon the breeze. As the butterfly flew
through the park 2 lovers forgot their small differences and in watching the
butterfly remembered why they were in love. As the butterfly flew on it settled
on a windowsill to rest and a shut-in smiled that they had found some beauty in
a weary day, and their family found relief that there had been one smile that day.”
“In this life it is not the grand deeds that matter – they are few and usually
fleeting. We often do not see the far shores that the ripples we set in motion reach,
but these are the acts life is made of – and we accomplish so much more than we
ever see.”
