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The Importance of the Little Things


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THE IMPORTANCE OF LITTLE THINGS

 

“Take heed. that ye despise not one of these little ones;

for I say unto you that their angels in

Heaven do always behold the face

of my Father which is in Heaven.”

 

In general people of both sexes aspire to great things and important affairs, and everyone by virtue of an inner weakness despises the little things. If you are given a penny, you say: “It is of no value; if it were a thousand, ten thousand or a hundred thousand leva, that would be something, but a penny — I am not a beggar.” You are given a walnut, and you are offended. I understand. “If you give me five to ten kilograms, but a single walnut — are not you mocking me?” By aspiring to great things we are also trying to get acquainted with people in high positions — kings, presidents, directors, scientists, philosophers, calling the men in low positions ignorant and simple. Throughout our life we see everywhere contempt for the little things and a search only for the great things of the world. But Christ turns to His disciples and warns them not to despise the little ones. Why? Do not despise them, because you offend their angels who serve them in heaven. If you despise the little ones, you despise the angels whose children they are. When we want to split a stump of wood, first we cut very small sharp wedges, and when they are driven in, they make room for the larger ones. If the first wedges are large and blunt, how can they be driven in? Therefore the small things open the way for the large ones. In the world too the whole process of development starts first with the small things which you despise: all progress in the universe is due to them. We say that the plough feeds the whole world and that, when the ploughman has ploughed the field well and sown it, it gives great abundance. That is right, but we should not forget the part that the millions of small worms play in ploughing the field.

 

When we despise the small causes, we allow great consequences to come to pass. I can say that all our general and personal misfortunes are due to this contempt of the small things in the past. That is why Christ tells his disciples not to despise ‘these little ones’. Now who are ‘these little ones’? Some may say that they are our children. But when we come to a complete application of Christ’s law, we shall see that there are many other things which should not be despised. “Do not despise these little ones.” I shall explain the hidden sense of these words. A Hindu gives a walnut to his son and asks him to study it, but the son breaks the walnut and eats it. “What does the walnut contain?” His father asked his son after that. “Nothing special, only a tasty kernel,” The Hindu asks his son again: “Did you not find anything else in that walnut?” “Nothing at all.” “Son, a great power was hidden in that walnut, and if you had not eaten it but planted it in the ground, a great tree would have grown out of it, and you would have seen the greatness of this small thing, which is the germ of a great thing.” God sends you a small thought, an apple seed, but you say: “That is nothing,” and throw it away. But God says: “Ask what power it contains; plant it, and you will see what a tree will grow up from it.” It is because of this contempt which we constantly have for the small thoughts that we have come to the state of saying that the world is bad.

 

Christ says: “Do not despise these little things, do not strive for the big ones but learn to discern what power is hidden in the small things and use them, for they will help you to obtain the big things.” Your house is built of small, microscopic particles all put together. Upon these small things, such as the grain of wheat, fruit and other trifles, depends our daily life. This is in regard to the body, but also in regard to the mind it is the small thoughts and wishes that produce joy and happiness in life. We should not despise any living being which has a relation to someone and is useful. This living being may be a pigeon, a hen, a sheep, an ox, a horse, or a donkey, but there is a book for everyone, in which it is written: this day you have put such and such a load on the donkey’s back, and if God puts a tax of five leva a day on this work, in a hundred years — if he has served you for a lifetime — what sum will you have to pay him? Some day you will be summoned like that debtor and told that you owe him ten thousand talents. You will say: “I do not remember,” but God has written in the book that that is how much you owe. Thus we all are indebted to those little ones. We owe our present development, our present thoughts and desires to those little ones of whom Christ speaks, and since we are indebted to them, we must love them, knowing that they have worked for us and that we must work for them now.

 

Love is not for the great men, for the angels and the saints: it is for the little ones, the poor, the miserable and lost brothers. That is why the mother has such great love for the child: she loves it under the compulsion of this great Divine Law. She loves it simply because the child is unknowingly in possession of the inner fire of God. You want to see God, but when He comes through this child you say: “Why did you give me this child, God?” You call upon God every day, and every day you chase Him away. And you pass for wise people! It is not only you who behaves in such a way, but the whole world as well.

 

God tests your mind every day to see how much you love Him and whether you speak the truth or not. In the past, when the world was spoiled, a rumour spread that God walked upon the earth to see how people lived, and the people said: “Now that there is no God in Heaven to control us we can live at liberty.” God saw in a place a man who was selling a blind horse saying to the buyer: “I swear by God he is not blind.” “Since you are swearing by God, I believe you,” replied the other and bought the horse. God passed by a house and saw a man beating his wife. “For God’s sake,” she said “forgive me!” and he forgave her. After a time these two, the horse-seller and the woman, appeared in Heaven and said: “God, we preached your name on earth.” Contemporary people also call upon God when they want to sell a blind horse and when they want not to be beaten. It is these little things that brings misfortunes. You have a blind horse and try to sell him in the name of God, but watch out and keep an account of what you are doing. Do you know who this blind horse is? He is your body. And people are always talking against it and punishing it, calling it wicked, but the body is not to blame. Nor should you torture your body, this temple which God has created. Therefore you should be very condescending to your body, because you can work only when it is healthy.

 

Now when Christ says ‘their angels’, He means those intelligent creatures who keep account of our actions. What we call ‘conscience’ ose angels who live in us and note down every act of ours, good or evil, and who say: “You did well” or “You did badly.” You offend someone, and his angel says to you: “Your action is not right.” You begin to excuse yourself: “Please excuse me, I was nervous, indisposed; such were the conditions.” Your being in such a state has nothing to do with the rule that you must not despise those little ones upon whom rest the Divine laws.

 

In our life today thought contains a great Divine basis, and if it falls on good soil, it can regenerate us. What we call ‘regeneration’ exists as a law of the spirit. It is that inner Divine process which uplifts and renews the human heart, the human mind, the human soul and the human spirit. This is a process of elevation, and upward movement. And in this Divine aspiration our elevation, redemption and salvation are worked out. That is why all beings from the smallest to the greatest are endeavouring to be renewed and uplifted, and in youth is hidden the blossoming of the human soul.

 

When you speak of being condescending to the little ones, you speak of grieving God, because when we grieve a person, we actually do not grieve him but God, who is in him. When we do good, we help God. When we help a person, his angel who is in Heaven will be at our service. Therefore, if we want to have friends in Heaven, we must serve the little ones, and their fathers — the angels in Heaven — will receive us into their home and give us a feast, and we shall feel at home. Service for service, love for love — such is the world.

 

Now do you know why Christ turned to His disciples with this thought? Contempt is a state which you must cast out of your soul. For instance, you meet a person whom you do not know, and contempt overwhelms you, making you think that he is perhaps lower than you. If you only note his ignorance and help him, that is a different thing, but if you despise him, that is poisoning. And the movement is always from the bigger to the smaller, i.e. God is always seeking the little things: He is not engaged in big affairs. He has made the world, but the management of the whole world does not give Him as much pleasure as His dealings with the children. His work is, when He sees people committing sins, to teach them, and He gives us an example not to despise the little ones, but to tolerate and teach them. When a teacher is engaged with his students, he gets pleasure from that, and he prizes those who study well.

 

The saints and the priests deal with the sinners and try to turn them to God. But we all have the problem of turning our attention to the feeble people and to little things. When someone says: “I cannot rest,” I understand that he is engaged in great things, great thoughts. How can he rest, if he puts on his back a rucksack which is too heavy for him, containing ten, twenty or fifty kilograms of gold? If he leaves only one pound in the rucksack, he will easily rest. And now God is coming to say:

 

“Down with all rucksacks!” He wants to liberate the world from them. “Down with all arms which destroy your hearts and minds! You should all become like children and not despise the little things which I have created.” God wants to return people to that pure original state which people call savage, but which is not savage in fact. ‘Deva’ means ‘pure’ in Sanscrit, and I want all people to become ‘devas’, pure, and to approach God, instead of being rude and evil. I wish the whole world to become pure and noble and not to despise the little things which God loves, but to place love, justice, wisdom, truth and power on that high place where they must be. Therein is salvation.

 

Talk given on August 3rd, 1914, in Sofia

 

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