The Drops of My Life

Last night, Lord,
I didn't turn off the kitchen tap properly.
The drop of water doesn't matter,
the little drop,
so tiny,
which dripped continuously into the sink.
What can one do with a little drop of water?

But this morning I found the sink full,
it had been overflowing all night.

You know, Lord, that I'm often driven to despair
by the things repeated a thousand times in my daily life.
So many little things to do,
in the house,
at work,
in my commitments,
little things that seem unimportant,
useless,
compared with all the needs to be done,
compared with what is done by important people
who are written about in the newspapers
and shown on television
because they do great things.

Since you invite me, Lord,
through the experiences of every day,
just to live a quiet life,
where I am,
help me to be faithful,
like Mary your mother, who did great things
by doing very small things
very well every day.
And I'll fill my life
with thousands of drops of water,
full to the brim.

My life will be fertile,
because it will flow even during the night--
in the night of my days,
as in the nights of my nights.
It will overflow
from a heart which doesn't want to hold back.
And the dry lands
around me will bloom again,
and my thirsty neighbors
will drink from my cup,
because through you, Lord,
the drops of my life
will become a river of living water.
Amen.

~~Michel Quoist
New Prayers. NY: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1999. 82-83.