“It is not how much we do, but how much love we put into what we do.”

Mother Teresa

Many of us suffer from always chasing after “doing more.” As if there’s a way to measure and know when we’ve done “enough.” As if there’s a way to “be” more by doing more.

Mother Teresa didn’t really believe in the big way of doing things. She truly and deeply cared about finding and helping the individual. One individual.

This quote, and Mother Teresa’s life, inspire me to narrow my focus a little. To seek how I can help individuals with great love. She changed the world one person at a time. Another of her famous quotes is, “We know only too well that what we are doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But if the drop were not there, the ocean would be missing something.”

Sometimes I think we set out to help as many people as possible, and we help them superficially or selfishly. Before too long we get caught up in the grandeur and lose sight of who we’re helping, and why, and what they actually need. Or, in our effort to help many, we bulldoze a few individuals along the way. Do we treat the people who share the road with us on the way to work the same way we treat our clients?

In our grand vision to make a difference in the lives of the masses, let’s not forget that the masses are full of individuals. Let our interactions with family, friends, co-workers, clients, car repair people, doctor’s office receptionists, and gas station attendants be full of great love, and reflect a belief that individuals matter.