Center for Catholic Education at UD

By Elena Niese

A reflection on the power of small sacrifices

“Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here, by a smiling look, there, by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love… A word or a smile is often enough to put fresh life in a despondent soul.” St. Thérèse de Lisieux

Groggy-eyed and worn down after a long week of classes, student clubs and activities, and having a late night working as a Resident Assistant, I woke up 30 minutes later than planned on a Saturday morning. I was going on retreat, and as I hastily packed my bags and headed out the door, I began to make my way towards the quiet and quaint walls of a convent in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

I was running. Yes, physically running out from my room and to my car to ensure that I would arrive to my 3-hour destination in a reasonable time, but this running extended to a deeper part of me, too. And whether it was out of the maintenance of my sanity, desiring luxury, or recognizing caffeine as a downright necessity, I found myself pulling up to the drive-through of a local coffee shop before embarking on my journey.

I did not have time for this stop. I was already 20 minutes behind. Yet, somehow just knew that I needed this coffee, even if it meant adding more time to my already delayed arrival.

And so, I placed my order and made my way to the pick-up window. Amidst my scrambling for loose change in my winter coat pocket, I was greeted by the face of a young women with a calm disposition. She seemed to contrast my disheveled interior state; and, as she gave me the coffee, she said, “Don’t worry about it.”

I was taken aback. “What? You mean I don’t have to pay?”

“Don’t worry about it.” And so I drove away, only the sound of the clinking ice cubes against the plastic cup interrupting my stream of consciousness.     

It was just a cup of coffee. But, somehow, I could not let it go.

This young woman’s simple action, her simple choice to extend a small token of kindness, broke through my constant state of running. This moment entered into the “default life” of your everyday college student— who as a young person trying to make sense of who they are in the world, is constantly running towards the next “right” thing, relationship, or experience that is essential towards their future success.

Sometimes this running, this trying to figure out who we are created to be, looks like running late for a retreat on a Saturday morning. Yet, in that moment I knew, even more, that sometimes God looks like a young woman who humbly offers an anonymous person a free cup of coffee. Kindness changes things.   

Edited by Emma Grace Geckle