麻豆约拍

From Father Brian D鈥橝rcy, a Catholic Passionist priest:

Sports coaches are fond of saying that the four laws of learning are explanation, demonstration, imitation and repetition. To be good at anything demands practice. Nothing in life is simple and nothing in life comes easy.

Another way of putting it is that we are creatures of habit. Our habits define us. Nathaniel Emmons, a famous preacher, believed that 鈥渉abit is either the best of servants, or the worst of masters.鈥�

It鈥檚 the little unnoticed, unhealthy impulses that bring us down. We鈥檙e more likely to be stung by a bee than to be bitten by an elephant. The little things cause big problems.

Success, however, comes from a commitment always to do the little things perfectly because little things make big things happen.

Today is the feast of Andrew, the patron Saint of Scotland. He鈥檚 a superb example of the importance of the apparently insignificant. Andrew accepted the call to follow Jesus and then convinced his brother to come along too. From then on poor Andrew faded into the background while his brother 鈥� who was St Peter-, went straight to the top.

Later when Jesus needed to feed the multitudes who were following him into the wilderness, he started by looking around for what was available. It was Andrew who spotted a boy with a few rolls of bread and then persuaded the boy to hand them over to Jesus. Thousands ate their fill and there was plenty left over. It was made possible because Andrew paid attention to what was going on around him and the boy was generous with the little he had. Miracles can come about if we pay attention to the small stuff

The lesson is obvious: do the basics right and you鈥檒l be surprised at how far you can get in life. Mother Teresa based her life鈥檚 work on the principle that we should learn to be faithful in small things because it is in them that true strength lies. 鈥淲e can do no great things,鈥� she said, 鈥渙nly small things with great love.鈥�