How I love this Feast Day! Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, also known as Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, or The Little Flower, holds a very special place in my heart and in our lives because the lesson that she embraced throughout her life and which has passed down to our own time for our incredible benefit is one that never ceases to amaze me in its profoundness and simplicity. It is the message of being little for the love of Jesus. Many of us have the blessing of being daily in the midst of little ones, and even those of us whose “littles” have grown up considerably, they remain “little” in our hearts. And what do the littles do best? They trust! It is that wonderful trust with which those little/big eyes look upon me, and that little/big voice calls out for me, that reminds me how much I need to trust God just as my child trusts me — especially when I don’t feel “worthy of trust” myself. The plans that didn’t get accomplished today — the spills, the brokens, the refereeing and mom whistle-blowing, the lost time, the burnt food because I’m feeling burnt out and forgetful — all those little “failures” can be swept into a pile to be placed before our Lord in Trust. My days seem rarely, if ever, to have within them those great, weighty sacrifices — the big stuff of Saints, as Saint Thérèse concluded was beyond her — but they can be filled with many little sacrifices of motherly love, as I clean, cook and categorize, read and write, add and subtract, look and listen, praise, console, admonish, exhort, remind and rejoice in the realities of home education and the myriad opportunities to live moments of little sacrifices — I for them and they for me and they for them. Kind words, loving glances, gentle tones, generosity, forgiveness, empathy, diligence, selflessness, encouragement . . . the little stuff of virtue. The Little Flower saw her little sacrifices as offerings of strewn flowers with sweet scents for love of our Lord. Would that I could see the spiritual reality of my daily offering of “littles” — each one my own precious little flower offered to Him?