It Starts at Home, But it Doesn’t End at Home

Did you know this famous quote ISN’T actually by Mother Teresa? It sums up the gist of her famous acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize, but it stops short of her message, and God’s message for us too.

Making an impact for God STARTS at home, but it doesn’t END at home because love knows no bounds. Loving God and loving others sums up all of the law, and while our seasons may change, the command to love doesn’t.

Far too often we get hung up on the “What” or the “Where” instead of sticking to the command which is focused on the “WHO.”

For many of us moms right now, our main “who” is loving the children around us, and whoever else God has placed in our lives too. We should never feel like our calling to love our tinies is “less than” in God’s book- no way. We are raising world changers!

On the flip side, does our call to love others stop within the comfort of our homes like this famous quote implies? What about when the kids leave for college, who will we spend our lives on loving then?

So don’t get caught up in this quote- maybe it makes you feel better about the mundane mom life for a minute, or tempted to never venture out of your home, but neither fully captures the heart of God for us to love others.

This week our theme is “Serving God in the Ordinary.” Don’t miss our guest blog tomorrow by Carolina Briggs!

Here’s the original quote from Mother Teresa. 

“And so, my prayer for you is that truth will bring prayer in our homes, and from the foot of prayer will be that we believe that in the poor it is Christ. And we will really believe, we will begin to love. And we will love naturally, we will try to do something. First in our own home, next door neighbor in the country we live, in the whole world.”

It starts at home but it doesn’t end at home, God’s love knows no bounds. Let’s give our kids such a rich foundation of love that they can’t help but be launched into a lifestyle of loving others, and knowing that our family’s love doesn’t stop at our doorstep.

“You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem (this is their home ), and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”” Acts 1:8

 Link to Mother Teresa’s full Nobel Peace Prize Speech:

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1979/teresa/26200-mother-teresa-acceptance-speech-1979/