Last night we watched the movie “The Letters,” the story of Mother Teresa. She reminds me so much of St. Francis of Assis. I love them both for the simplicity of their faith, yet how true to God they were in their calling. They were both rebels in a way listening to the voice of God above all else.

The letters tell how lonely and abandon she felt at times by God. I wonder how someone, as holy as Mother Teresa devoting her life and work to God, could feel so alone in what she was doing. In a way it makes me sad. However, I understand too because I have felt the same way at different points in my own faith walk.

She had so many people around her who admired her and wanted to emulate her. Yet she never wanted the focus to be on her. Nothing was more important than the present moment in which she could be helping the needy. She had no time for the praises of this world. She points the way to God through her actions, the same as Jesus did.

There is something in her story that we can all gain insight from. The part of the story that jumped out for me was when she told a reporter she was an instrument to God the same as his pencil was to his writing.  It made me think of the different talents we each have and how we can use them for the betterment of the world. She once said, “not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” As a writer, I take to heart her example of the pencil as my instrument, but it is my hand that moves it, my thoughts that create it, and the spirit of God who inspires what I write. The trick is in not letting my own thoughts get in the way. As Mother Teresa encouraged everyone, she’d simple say with clasped hands and smile on her face, “pray, pray, pray.”