The Color of Doing Good

"Do not underestimate good,

thinking it will not affect you. 

Dripping water can fill a pitcher;

drop by drop, one who is wise is filled with good,

even if one accumulates it little by little"

(Dhammapada 9.7)

A story (author unknown):

Once upon a time two brothers who lived on adjoining farms fell into conflict. It was the first serious rift in 40 years of farming side by side, sharing machinery, and trading labor and goods as needed without a hitch.

Then the long collaboration fell apart. It began with a small misunderstanding and it grew into a major difference, and finally it exploded into an exchange of bitter words followed by weeks of silence.

One morning there was a knock on John's door. He opened it to find a man with a carpenter's toolbox. "I'm looking for a few days work" he said.

"Perhaps you would have a few small jobs here and there. Could I help you?"

"Yes," said the older brother. "I do have a job for you. Look across the creek at that farm. That's my neighbor, in fact, it's my younger brother. Last week there was a meadow between us and he took his bulldozer to the river levee and now there is a creek between us. Well, he may have done this to spite me, but I'll go him one better. See that pile of lumber curing by the barn? I want you to build me a fence - an 8-foot fence - so I won't need to see his place anymore. Cool him down, anyhow."

The carpenter said, "I think I understand the situation. Show me the nails and the post-hole digger and I'll be able to do a job that pleases you."

The older brother had to go to town for supplies, so he helped the carpenter get the materials ready and then he was off for the day.

The carpenter worked hard all that day measuring, sawing, nailing.

About sunset when the farmer returned, the carpenter had just finished his job. The farmer's eyes opened wide, his jaw dropped.

There was no fence there at all. It was a bridge... a bridge stretching from one side of the creek to the other! A fine piece of work handrails and all - and the neighbor, his younger brother, was coming across, his hand outstretched.

"You are quite a fellow to build this bridge after all I've said and done."

The two brothers stood at each end of the bridge, and then they met in the middle, taking each other's hand. They turned to see the carpenter hoist his toolbox on his shoulder. "No, wait! Stay a few days. I've a lot of other projects for you," said the older brother.

"I'd love to stay on," the carpenter said, "but, I have many more bridges to build."

“Do your little bit of good where you are;

it's those little bits of good put together

that overwhelm the world.” 

(Desmond Tutu)

One drop of water at a time, one slow drip... fills a bucket. All that is required is patience and faith. The two brothers in the story above forgot how small actions can powerfully touch our lives - for good or ill. A single word can tear friends apart; a single word can bring them together. The good that we do may, in some cases be the consequence of grand efforts and expressions, however, it is more often the product of thousands of nearly unseen moments, tiny drips of kindness.

There may be times when you feel that you are up against unbeatable odds - that your endeavors will never see fulfillment. At those times think of a waterfall and its granite walls. A little trickle of water, soft and gentle, pours over a cliff face for thousands of years, and the granite walls of the cliff, the very bones of the earth, are eroded one molecule at a time. You are water - changing, flexible, moving... life giving. Everything that you come up against will, in time, yield to Love's touch through you. 

“How far that little candle throws his beams!

So shines a good deed in a weary world.” 

(William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice)

There are forces at work in our world that would unravel the tapestry of our healing; forces that are powerful, dark, overwhelming. These forces, though, are less formidable in the face of Christ's Love than is granite before water. Some changes will take many generations of quiet, persistent acts of kindness to see the darkness worn away; so be it. Just know that every act of compassion, forgiveness, and Love that Spirit pours onto the world through your heart pushes back the darkness. 

I leave the last word to Jesus, whose life was water to the granite of our soul:

"What shall we say the kingdom of God is like...? 

It is like a mustard seed,

which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. 

Yet when planted,

it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants,

with such big branches

that the birds of the air can perch in its shade."

(Mark 4.30-32)

The color of doing good...

the first step in a journey of 1000 steps.

No known power

will

stand against

time

and

persistence

Drip

Drip

Drip

To Ponder Further:

- From the Bible: "Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for..." (Job 6.8a)

- From Islam: "Patiently, then, persevere – for the Promise of Allah is true, and ask forgiveness for your faults, and celebrate the praises of your Lord in the evening and in the morning.” (Quran 40:55)

- From Current wisdom: "I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.” (Marie Curie)