He who sees God's mercy in small things, God will elevate him to great things

We have become very accustomed to a lot, we have become accustomed to everything, we have become very comfortable, we have become accustomed to not fasting, we have become accustomed to not working hard, and then we no longer have joy for the little things.

Just like before, a man who fasted until Christmas and worked hard, when the Christmas meal came, well, it was an incomparable joy, it was the Christmas meal! And the days after Christmas were a great joy, because until then he had not rejoiced, had not partied, had not been to I don't know how many discos, but had waited with hope and order for the day. And after keeping a month and a half of fasting and order, the joys had a different substance and the unity between people and the connections between them and the visits from one to another were different. Today, people have become very accustomed, constantly, to having everything, to eating everything, to being without any lack – and then they begin to no longer be satisfied with what they have.

There is a parable told by the Savior: If you go to a wedding, do not sit at the head of the table. Because at some point someone more important than you will come and the host will say: “Friend, you must go now, because, look, an important person has come, go to the end!” And there is no place for you except far away, who knows where, or maybe there is no place at all. But you go and sit at the back from the start and, at some point, the host will come and say: “Friend, why did you sit so low? Come up!” and he will put you right next to the bridegroom cf. Luke 14:8-10. Do you know that the Fathers understood this word differently? They said that when you enjoy this world, don't jump to the important things and say: "I'm only happy if I'm the king of the world! I'm only happy if I'm a millionaire! I'm only happy if I'm initiated, I'm only happy if I'm a hesychast, I'm only happy if I'm alive!" No! I'm happy with the little things, I'm happy that God gave me to hear the sound of flowing water, that God gave me to see another day, that I have eyes, that I have legs, that I breathe. I'm happy that I still have these people by my side, that I have a dog who is kind and wags its tail when I come home. The one who sees God's mercy in small things, God will raise him to big things. The one who from the start wants big things and is not satisfied with small things, God will return him to small things and will live a life only among small things, spiritually speaking. And I think that we, humans, have forgotten to enjoy ourselves and that is why we have to go through illnesses, through pain, through troubles, to realize how much a step is worth! After you have had your legs broken and spent a year in bed, you give glory to God and shout for joy that you took a step. Or after you have not seen with your own eyes for half a year and then you see the sunlight, you cry incessantly that you saw the sunlight and God gave you another chance to see. But why do you have to go through all that suffering to give glory to God? That is our mistake.

We should give glory to God incessantly, to understand that at any moment we can die, at any moment we can lose all these gifts that we think we are worthy of, but in fact we are not worthy of. I believe that if a person manages to maintain this gratitude for small things, God will also carry him to high, big things. And, the more a man is not satisfied with small things – as I hear this advertisement now: “You deserve more!” – the more God will humble him. As His Holiness Vasile, our bishop from Cluj, who recently passed to the Lord, used to tell us: “The best is the enemy of the good.” And on a spiritual level, many times, we can say that the best that you imagine, that you delude yourself into thinking you should achieve, is the enemy of the good. You don’t enjoy anything you have and say: “No, it’s too little, I need more!” And you run all the time after more, but in fact you lose everything, in the end.