Believe it or not, the determining factor in the success of my day is not how kind I’ve been to others, how well I’ve done at resisting the chocolate biscuits, or how many words I’ve written of my thesis, but whether or not I made my bed that morning. 

I realise that when stacked up against all that could possibly go well or not over the course of one’s waking hours it hardly seems like a deal breaker, and yet, it is.  Making the bed (especially when it’s more involved than just pulling the duvet up to the pillows) is possibly the most mundane of tasks and probably the smallest on your daily chore list, but it packs a punch. 

When the bed’s made first thing in the morning my bedroom is an oasis of calm and order, as it should be.  Everything is in its place and I know that no matter what the rest of the day brings when I retire for the night it will be to this tranquil space.  When the bed’s not made, each and every time I come into the room the disorder is jarring, and what’s more, I feel like I’m a failure because I haven’t even managed to complete the simplest of tasks.  

The way I see it, if I don’t respect the little things in life, those which are easy and quick to achieve and deliver instant reward, how can I possibly achieve meaningful success with larger ones?  If the little things aren’t in order the big ones start to come unstuck.  Wall papering my room and hanging expensive curtains are all completely pointless if my bed remains unmade day in and day out sabotaging the peace and order of what would otherwise be a restful haven.

The same can be said for all the other little things in life.  These may be things we do that aren’t essential but which deliver peace and order like moving a neighbour’s morning newspaper out of a puddle, or those which offer a moment of unexpected happiness to another person, such as card in the mail just to say you’re thinking of her.  Or they may be things which we do that are harmful either because they cause neglect or come from a place of maleficence. 

As small as they may be, these little things have a considerable impact on our Christian vocation.  Spontaneous acts of goodness undertaken for no other reason than because they come from a place of love move us towards God (who is the ultimate good from which all other goods are derived).  If the small thing is our effort to refrain from acting against the good in a particular moment then this too is a step towards God in whom we find strength to overcome wrongdoings.  With each step we grow closer in unity with him and as a result we are rewarded with a greater level of flourishing in our lives.  This in turn provides encouragement to us to continue to perform good acts, or to again resist acting badly, and so on.  To respect the little things you see, and grow in holiness through them, is to live virtuously.

There is no greater model for holiness attained from a life lived performing little tasks than Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897).  During her religious life she was considered unremarkable by her Carmelite sisters with nothing in particular to commend her over another (it wasn’t until her writings were read by them posthumously that they realised they had been living with an altogether very remarkable woman). 

Thérèse herself was acutely aware of her littleness before God and her lack of ability for grand gestures of homage.  So she chose a path towards heaven that would mean steady advancement to her destination by performing all the little things she could with the greatest of love.  With humble perseverance this young saint turned her mind in all that she did to being consciously in the presence of God.  Each and every act was an opportunity to display her love for him so that in each and every little thing that she did she offered him glory and honour. 

Every chore undertaken willingly, every opportunity to offer a small sacrifice, every possibility to share a loving smile was, for Thérèse, a step further forward on this journey so that day by day she grew in her relationship with God in a profoundly holy way.  Holiness is that which is set apart for God, and this is what Thérèse made of her life.  She set herself a path for God and she pursued it at every possibly opportunity.

St Thérèse’s ‘Little Way’ has inspired countless others to imitate her smallness before God.  She willed for people to know that perfection consists in doing God’s will and being whom he wills us to be.  This begins with understanding that everything you do for him, great or small, is of equal value so long as it is performed with true charity.  This means of course that everything we do in love of our neighbour also contributes to our growth in virtue because to love God is to love everyone around us.  

We may never have the opportunity or ability to achieve some of the great feats of the saints but this in no way means that the little things we can do aren’t equally important.  In God’s garden, Thérèse writes in her autobiography, ‘if all the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would lose its springtide beauty, and the fields would no longer be enamelled with lovely hues.  And so it is in the world of souls, Our Lord’s living garden. He has been pleased to create great saints who may be compared to the lily and the rose, but he has also created lesser ones, who must be content to be daisies or simple violets flowering at his feet, and whose mission it is to gladden his divine eyes when he deigns to look down on them. And the more gladly they do his will the greater is their perfection.’

As we celebrate today the feast of St Thérèse, may we do so mindful of the little tasks that we can perform that bring joy to God, happiness to others, and peace into our own hearts.  Perhaps the first may be to go and make your bed.

~ Fiona Bradley

Fiona Bradley is a PhD candidate at the Australian Catholic University researching the role of charity in the soteriology of St Thomas Aquinas.