From some vantage points the world looks overwhelmingly chaotic. There is so much beyond our control. There are so many unknowns. There are moments when the largeness of this reality feels oppressively vast.
A small cluster of trees on the Flat Top trail.
Recently, while hiking a new trail on a now familiar mountain my son had an unexpected moment of panic. He looked over the edge across the unending expanse, and even though he had hiked much steeper trails, he was suddenly overcome with fear and brought to his knees. In an effort to calm him I drew his attention to the tiny ants crawling around us. He has always loved watching tiny things scramble about. We watched an ant traverse small rock and talked about how big the rock must seem to the ant. Soon he was able to focus on the trail again and forgot all about the immensity of the world within view.
A serene stop early on the Flat Top trail.
After our hike, we spent time admiring a smaller world within our own little patch of earth. We have a little forest by our house that supports so much interesting vegetation and life. We found a little wolf spider working his way across a patch of moss. We talked about how these tiny creatures help things grow around them simply by doing what they were created to do.
An Alaskan wolf spider found in our yard.
Humans were created to love. Things do not go well in the world when we do not do that well. In The Way, St. Josemaría says,
“Do everything for love. In that way there will be no little things: everything will be big. Perseverance in the little things for love is heroism.” (813)
Yes, the world can be chaotic and cruel. If we stare too long into this reality it will bring us to our knees. Perhaps this is well, for from this stance we can look upward towards our creator, ask pardon for our own sins and help to do better. Then, with eyes focused on the next step forward we can take that step in love knowing that doing what were created to do will make the world a little better.
