The Honest Worker

0704_039_01(This 1898 photograph from a souvenir publication shows how Anne Sullivan (at right) “read-spelled” to Helen Keller and how they conversed.)

I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along not by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.–Helen Keller

I often wonder whether theories of societal change, spiritual renewal, movement building and multiplication overlook the hard work of “head to head, across the table, over the pages of the bible, life on life” discipleship. It seems too me that the heart of movement building always rests on the “tiny pushes” of each honest discipler.

Take a glance at the story of Helen Keller and her accomplishments. As I read it, I wish not for more Helen Kellers for the Kingdom of God, but more Anne Sullivans.