I’m writing this to someone I knew once, even though I don’t think they will ever read it. I can’t even remember her name. I think it was Sister Dill, so that’s what I’ll call her. She wasn’t a nun, but just a regular member of my church who accepted the calling to teach my Primary class when I was a boy of about 8.

The Magnet

I was having a hard time as a kid. I felt angry, hotheaded, picked on, and lonely. But I wasn’t alone. Sister Dill noticed me and had compassion on me. She couldn’t solve my problems, but she could give me an invaluable tool to solve them.

One particularly moody Sunday, I was surprised when Sister Dill pulled me aside and gave me a present. It was a circular magnet with a picture of a bald eagle soaring through the sky. It had the following words on it:

“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.”

The Message

I put it on the refrigerator at home and looked at it often. It was nice to have something to call my very own in such a public area of my childhood home. I’ve pondered a lot about the meaning of the words on that magnet.

What great things am I capable of? Am I accomplishing them? What small things can I do in great ways to demonstrate my character?

These questions ran through my mind recently as I was cleaning my local church. It was just janitorial work, taking out trash bags and that sort of thing. I thought at first that this wasn’t a job of deep eternal significance. But then I came across a very deep, narrow trash can that was absolutely caked in filth when I removed the bag. Apparently, food and pop had been put into it when it didn’t have a bag at some point in the past, and they had caked to the sides and bottom of it so firmly that I knew it wouldn’t be easy to get them off.

It wasn’t expected of me to clean a trash can, just to remove the trash and put in a new liner. But I thought of the quote from my childhood, and I decided I was going to get that thing as clean as a whistle. I spent a long time spraying it to loosen the resin on the sides and bottom of the can, and then I painstakingly scrubbed it over and over. Each time I got a little more of the grime off. There was one graham cracker attached to the bottom that was particularly stubborn. But with a lot of effort and patience, I was able to finally dislodge it.

The Meaning

No one would ever know what I did, except that now I’m telling you. I hope that Sister Dill would be pleased to know that her gift touched me, and it helped me to change from a temperamental little boy into a man who prides himself on doing a superlative job, no matter what task I’m asked to perform.

Cleaning a dirty trash can was a small effort in the grand scheme of things. But I’m glad I did it because it means more than the physical act. It speaks to who I want to be. We’re all in a tug-of-war between good and evil in this life, and I hope to let the good win out.

I trust that we all have opportunities to do great things a little at a time. It might seem trivial to put our best effort into a tiny job. But if we do that enough times, we’ll develop a good habit that will serve us well when big opportunities come along. Sister Dill, you played an important role in helping me be more Christlike, and I will always be grateful to you. Even though you’ll never know it.

This is the Deja Reviewer bidding you farewell until we meet again.

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