Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher

This small bird feeds on very tiny insects that seem beneath our notice.

What is trivial to us is greater in God's sight

Meister Eckhart was besought by his good friends, 'Give us something to remember, since you are going to leave us.'

He said, 'I will give you a rule, which is the keystone of all that I have ever said, which comprises all truth that can be spoken of or lived.

'It often happens that what seems trivial to us is greater in God's sight than what looms large in our eyes. Therefore we should accept all things equally from God, not ever looking and wondering which is greater, or higher, or better. We should just follow where God points out for us, that is, what we are inclined to and to which we are most often directed, and where our bent is. If a man were to follow that path, God would give him the most in the least, and would not fail him.

'It often happens that people spurn the least, and thus they prevent themselves from getting the most in the least, which is wrong. God is in all modes, and equal in all modes, for him who can take Him equally. People often wonder whether their inclinations come from God or not, and this is how to find out: if a man finds it within himself to be willing above all things to obey God's will in all things, provided he knew or recognized it, then he may know that whatever he is inclined to, or is most frequently directed to, is indeed from God.

 Excerpt taken from the complete mystical works, Meister Eckhart, p. 588.