Small

A few weeks after the Denver Yoga for Congo event, we were getting ready for another one.  This one wouldn’t be in a big city, but instead, a small Utah town.  It would be the second time around for this town, too, and no one knew what to expect.

I was still so tired and trying to figure out how I had felt about the Denver one.  But I was truly looking forward to this one.

I woke up to snow and cold.  We worried it would keep people away.

But I was literally awe-struck on that cold morning in that little town as that small room was completely filled with women.  Completely.  We could not have fit one more person in there.

And once again, the love was overwhelming.

These good, sweet women truly opened their hearts.  I am always amazed at the level of trust someone has to have to come to an event like this.  It is highly emotional and easy to feel vulnerable.  That amount of love and trust humbles me each time.

One woman thanked me with tears in her eyes for coming to share this with a small town.  She said she often feels like small towns are glossed over like they have nothing to give.

I think each of us feels small at times.  Like we have nothing to offer.  Like we are insignificant.

I am witness that none of us is too small.  These women were perfect evidence of that.

On a cold, snowy morning in a small town, a small group of women gathered together and opened their hearts and gave so much.  Together they loved enough and raised as much as I have struggled to raise at some larger events.

One woman couldn’t even stay the whole time, but gave more generously than almost any donor in the past.  Another completely emptied her purse when she left, because she just wanted to give everything she could.  Woman after woman that I could talk about from that morning.

And then, when I drove back to my girls, there were 5 little anxious faces, just bursting with “wait,” to know how we helped “their Congo ladies” that day.

Knowing and meeting people like that changes my life and makes me better.  Moments like that remind me that all of the work and sorrow at times is so very worth it.  From it springs the most abundant life of all.

You always hear that one person can make a difference.  I don’t think very many people actually believe it, which is why, at any “cause” event, you have dozens of people who “wanted to come,” but didn’t, for one reason or another, but truly, simply, because they were sure that others would show up.  Any charity event director has heard that again and again.

But the one more person who comes makes an impact that they cannot imagine.  No cliché about it.

Never feel too small.  Small and simple things are what bring miracles about.  Small things change everything.

Vernal, UT, Yoga for Congo Women 2011, Photos by Tory Mathis