"But I am such a small man," Odin will say, "how can I serve the Great God in my insignificance, and what can the Lord require of me?"

But for God, there are no small, insignificant people. All are equally dear to Him, for all are His children. The humble widow, who was poorer than the others and lower in status, was able in her zeal to bring God the richest gift.

"But I can do so little," says another, "only trifling services and petty sacrifices of love are in my power. What do these little things mean to Almighty God?"

But in the spiritual life there are no trifles: everything is important, for even great things are made up of trifles.

That is why a Christian must be very attentive even to the details of his behavior.

Unfortunately, we often do not attach any importance to these trifles of life. Petty quarrels, slight ridicule, casual sarcastic words — all this seems so unimportant. Yet, as one French psychologist, Castew, says, "every considerable success is due to attention to detail. Napoleon won his great victories only because he was extraordinarily attentive to all the details of military preparations, not losing sight of anything down to the last soldier's button inclusive... Very many people grasp with enthusiasm and enthusiasm at any task they like, but they cannot stand the dry, rough work that is required for it. That is why many talents perish without any practical result."

The great is created out of the small, for the great is the result of gradual accumulation, and if you neglect the small, you will never attain the great. The vast Alps are nevertheless composed of grains of sand, and each podvig is created by the accumulation of preliminary small efforts.

This should be said especially about the development of will and moral character. A person's will develops only through small victories. Temptation has grown on your way. You have not succumbed to temptation, you have suppressed a bad desire by an effort of will, you have conquered yourself - your will has become a little stronger, it has become stronger, because any exercise associated with tension is accompanied both in the physical organism and in the soul of a person by the accumulation of strength. The second and third victories will strengthen your will even more... And so the strength of character and its stability in good gradually grows. Holiness is nothing but a long series of moral victories, an endless series of sparkling dots that merge to the outside eye into a continuous line of light, like the Milky Way. Look at the clear starry sky at night. You will see above you a luminous nebula, wavy stretching from horizon to horizon. It is the Milky Way, which seems to be a continuous river of fire. But look closely, and you will see that it is all made up of countless myriads of individual little stars.

In Philadelphia, at the mint, they say, there is a room whose floor is covered with a solid layer of gold. When cutting coins, the smallest dust particles of gold fell to the floor and over time covered it with solid gilding.

It is the same in man: we often admire the moral beauty, meekness, and crystal purity of his soul, but do we know what it costs and how it is achieved? Most often, this is not a natural gift given to a person in full from birth, but the result of countless efforts and individual small moral victories over oneself.

But, on the other hand, the negative qualities of the soul also develop through numerous concessions and moral defeats. Each such concession already disintegrates the moral energy of the will. Dip one drop of swamp mud into a glass of clean water, and the water will become noticeably cloudy. Poison is harmful even in small doses, and it should be beware. The violin string, weakened for a second, introduces falsehood into the entire harmony of the concerto. That is why minor weaknesses and misdeeds must be treated strictly and attentively.

Have you seen how those streams are formed, which rush in muddy streams through the streets on a stormy autumn day? Look at the window: the moisture of the autumn rain falls like fine water dust on the cold glass; from this dust, large drops swell, grow; they increase, roll down, merging with others and forming small streams; they are joined by other, new... And now muddy and dirty streams are running along the drainage ditches. So it is in the moral life: muddy streams of passion and vice are formed from individual sinful actions repeated many times. Often minor sins add up to a great vice. Beware of petty sins!

Beware of them especially because the moral sense is weakened and the conscience is dulled. It turns out to be something like an ordinary children's story with a new dress. Children usually take great care of their new clothes and carefully clean them. But with the first occasional dirty stain, all sense of respect for the new thing drops. The dress is no longer cared for, not taken care of, it immediately falls into the category of everyday costumes and in a short time is covered with stains and patches.

The same thing happens with the soul. A person sometimes avoids sin for a long time, but with the very first fall he can give up on the carefully guarded purity of the soul and say to himself: "I could not restrain myself.. Anyway now! What was, happened. You can't bring back the past! There is nothing more to worry about: it is no longer worth guarding oneself from dirt.." And in a short time the clean garment of the soul is all covered with stains of sin.