When Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997, she left behind all the possessions she had accumulated in her eighty-seven years on earth. Those possessions were two saris (a woman’s garment that is worn in India) and the bucket she used to wash in.
Mother Teresa was outstandingly poor in possessions, but she was incredibly rich in service and love. The mission in Calcutta, which she founded and where she worked, took in persons who were destitute and homeless. Mother Teresa would carry dying people in from the streets, wash diseased bodies, clean up filth, hand-feed the starving and weak and those with disabilities. No job was too dirty or lowly for her to tackle with her own hands.
Mother Teresa was the epitome of those to whom the King speaks in Matthew 25:40: “And the King shall answer and say unto them . . . as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
Mother Teresa’s selflessness is an inspiration to every Christian woman who longs to be of service to her King.9 But not everyone is able to travel to distant cities or to work in slums among the homeless. Can we still serve the King?
Indeed, our life is to be one extended act of service to God. And it can begin exactly where we are, today.
Elizabeth George, in Loving God with All Your Mind, writes, “You see, I exist to serve [God] and his people according to the gifts he has given me and in the situations where he places me.”10
Our brief life here is to serve God where he has placed us. One way to do that is to serve his people, and most often that work begins at home.
I quote Darlene Marie Wilkinson, who wrote The Prayer of Jabez for Women: “As wives, mothers, daughters, widows, or single women, the most important territory we are given is our loved ones and our closest friends. God doesn’t ask us to neglect our home turf to go looking for greener pastures. . . . Instead, he helps us discover the amazing potential we have to impact the world right from our own living room.”11
Mother Teresa’s “living room” was the missions she founded, and their work still continues. She served God by caring for those around her wherever she was.
God asks some of us to serve him closer to home, in the kitchen or living room or classroom. In school and at church. Caring for our children and shepherding their souls. Preparing food and washing dishes and clothes. Telling others about him and his offer of a new and better life. Making sacrifices to help those who need it. Living with less and reaching out to the neighborhood around us.
Mother Teresa tackled one need and one person at a time. God expects us to do the same in the part of the world where he has put us. Perhaps our territory will never be as vast or as far-reaching as hers, but that is no excuse not to begin.
| Prayer | Reflection |
| Teach me to serve you, Lord, wherever I am and however I can. I want to learn that true service begins at home first and then widens to include everyone around me. | How could I help a friend today? How could I help a stranger I meet? |