When small things can change the world

Lent started early this year and threw me a curve ball when it landed on Valentine’s Day. 

One of the joys of entering my sixth decade of life with some food allergies is that I no longer crave chocolate. So the sacrifice of giving up chocolate for lent just doesn’t bear the same weight.

However, not celebrating Valentine’s Day with my 27-year-old daughter who is developmentally disabled, did not resonate well with my maternal heart — Ash Wednesday or not. This traditional beginning of Lent also landed on the second Wednesday of February, which for the past three years has been the opening celebration for our Johanna’s Hope community. After our communal Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations in early December, we take off the months of December and January to focus on family and planning for the year ahead.

This year, hearts trumped ashes in a joyful celebration of love and friendship at Jo’s Farm!

While the biggest snowfall of this winter delayed our start time and prohibited vans that transport some of our friends from attending, our smaller group allowed us to focus our craft on cutting, decorating, and baking heart and snowflake-themed cookies from dough that my daughter had prepared for her friends ahead of time.  

Our Valentine’s gathering was an intimate celebration filled with much laughter and joy; a lovely start to another year of Johanna’s Hope. 

Mother Teresa, the late great saint, whose life and work were dedicated to God in her service of the poorest of the poor on the streets of Calcutta and many other places in the world, was a great witness to the intertwining of love and sacrifice, to grow in holiness while creating a world of compassion and hope for those in the greatest need. 

Mother Teresa’s work was as small as it was great, beginning and ending each day in quiet and prayerful communion with God. But her service to the poor spoke loudly to world leaders and everyday people as her legacy of love lives on in the Missionaries of Charity which she founded. 

There is a quote attributed to Mother Teresa that gives me great consolation in my daily life-  

“Small things done with great love will change the world.” 

The older I get, the smaller my life becomes. While many women my age are looking forward to leisure and time to travel in retirement, I am looking for new and creative ways to make life more accessible, more purposeful, and beautiful for my daughter and others with different abilities. 

The lessons I have learned in caring for my daughter and helping others have taught me the profound truths of Mother Teresa’s words. Some days, my greatest accomplishments are moving my daughter from the stander to the wheelchair without pain in my neck and her legs. 

We may paint a canvas or collect the few eggs our chickens are willing to lay on these short winter days. We might read the same children’s books we’ve read dozens of times and for as many years. These are some of the little things I do in love and it’s quite simply enough. 

We might not be equipped or able to accomplish great things in the world’s eyes. But if we can focus on doing the little things with great love, we can make a difference in this world by influencing others for good. 

I celebrated my 60th birthday this past December amid RSV pneumonia that kicked my butt for the holiday season and left me with a cough that appears to be lingering until spring. Though my plans for a bigger and brighter season were reduced to trying to breathe without coughing, the holidays held an extra sparkle in the form of a tiny golden retriever. 

Meyer is the name of the eighth puppy we are raising for Canine Companions. He has big shoes to fill as we are now 3:4 graduate to non-graduate dogs that we have raised for the program.

Imani, our 4-year-old Golden Retriever, was destined to fail out of the program from her first anxious reactions to being in public. She was our COVID puppy who is now happily suited to her position as “Farm Manager” on Jo’s Farm. Imani loves all our participants at Johanna’s Hope programs and is in her own, unofficial way living out her destiny as a therapy animal on Jo’s Farm. 

Meyer, though of the same lineage as Imani (they both are descendants of a golden we raised for the program who became a breeder), is a very different dog. He is chill and calm, nonplussed by the variety of medical equipment and daily aides and therapies my daughter requires. 

This adorable Golden Retriever puppy is a daily reminder to me of the truth that doing little things with great love can make the world a better place. Though he was seemingly perfect those first few weeks in our home, as I coughed my way through housebreaking and crate training, one of my older kids, who is a professional dog trainer, told me that they saw “secret sass” in Meyer’s eyes. They were right. 

As the new year began, the sass came out and I found myself face to face with the most adorable golden face and brown eyes challenging me for leadership and direction. With a treat bag belted around my waist and a leash between us, I set out to teach this little puppy some fun tricks. 

Anyone who has kids knows that each one brings their own challenge and changing parental strategies is necessary to survive. So even though Meyer is our eighth puppy and the 10th canine companion in our home over the past 20 years, starting over with a baby puppy is always new. 

I decided the only way to train this puppy was on the go and in the midst of life, with little incremental sessions woven into our way of life. He’s learned to sleep quietly in his kennel, to sit and wait, to lay down and in bed, to politely offer a paw to shake, and to sit and walk nicely on a leash at my side. Meyer is very smart and extremely food-motivated, which is a rare, but desirable, trait in a Golden Retriever. 

It may seem ridiculous that I am training a puppy while caring for my medically fragile daughter, advocating for people with disabilities, and running a nonprofit all from our home at Jo’s Farm. This principle of doing little things with great love gets us through. 

We are training Meyer on the go, with little incremental sessions armed with treats and exuberant praise. Johanna is helping too, as she instructs him to put his paws on her lap, corrects his desire to nibble at her fingers, and teaches him to give kisses amidst much laughter. 

Meyer too has targeted his tiny licks at Jo’s clenched left hand in an effort that helps her open her fingers more.  Jo rewards Meyer with pats on his soft head. 

As a puppy raiser, a mom/caregiver, and an advocate, I may not accomplish great feats that inspire all. But I can do little things with great love. I know I make a difference to a few special people and to my very special daughter and a tiny puppy who will hopefully grow up and leave Jo’s Farm to change the world by helping a special someone in need. 

Caregiving is one of those vocations where you often feel like you’re taking two steps forward and three steps back – all for love. Puppy raising is providing me with little measurable successes that build on each other for the greater good. I didn’t realize that training this cute fluffy puppy would also do wonders for my mental health. 

Turns out that doing small things with great love makes a difference in the world and me.