“I Choose All”

When I was first introduced to this quote of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, I likened it to her ‘little way,’ that all things are a means to Christ. The little inconveniences, joys, pains and sorrows. If it’s something hard, it helps you lean on him. If it’s something easy, you can thank him. The full circle view of that is actually the hard things are also the things to thank Him for because they bring us closer to Him and that means nothing but peace, joy and love, so yay! to the hard things of life when looked at from this mature perspective.

It really tickled me to learn that Therese first spoke these words when she was unable to choose which toy she wanted from a collection of her older sister’s and decided she would have all of them! What a sweet progression from a girl of two years old to the Carmelite who has rocked the world with her simple way of love. “I choose all” has morphed into the blissful and bold indecision of a toddler to the intentional but child-like trust of a soul longing to be nestled by the love of the Father.