LOVE JESUS WHERE YOU ARE
Author Unknown



My husband and I sat with hundreds of others gathered to hear Mother Teresa speak. Scanning the bare stage, I scrutinized the curtains for some sign of movement, some signal that she was about to appear. Suddenly she was there. The spotlights converged on her small sari-draped frame. Had she not spoken a word, every person there would still have riveted his or her attention on Mother Teresa. It was not how she looked or what she said that plumbed our hearts and seeded them with hope. It wasn't her at all. It was the tremendous reality of God's Presence radiating from a woman whose life and love had made her a clear vessel for it. It was like looking at a glass box and seeing the treasure within it. That Presence became tangible through Mother Teresa.

People hungry to know what they often struggle to believe experienced God's promise: I am with you. Looking back on that evening, I cannot remember many specific things she said. The sense of Presence is what remains with me. She spoke simply about her work. She talked of serving Jesus in the poorest of the poor, and of poverty's many faces. As she spoke, God stirred the desire for Himself that He has placed in our hearts. I, too, wanted to know Jesus as she did. Someone, giving voice to that yearning, asked what she could do. She worked with wealthy children. Should she leave that job and serve the poor instead?

In a gentle but firm voice, Mother Teresa answered her. "Stay" she said. "You are not serving money, you are serving children. They are Jesus, too. There are many kinds of poverty. Love Jesus where you are.


"Jesus, I long for closeness with You. Yet, I wonder if my life is too ordinary to be a way to holiness. It is spent doing many small, seemingly insignificant things. I don't do anything exceptional. I don't preach Your word in the missions or care for the poor in the cities. I don't minister to the dying or rescue children from war-torn countries. Mother Teresa's words gave me hope. She gave me a new way of understanding what You are calling me to do. Love Jesus where you are, she said. You are serving Him when you serve His people. Jesus, fill my heart with the desire to love and serve You as I go about the work of being a wife and mother.