My young daughter was quietly crying because she believed a junior high teacher had unfairly disciplined her and other classmates. She was confused, overwhelmed, and had come to me during a classroom break while I was working in another part of the school.

She was likely justified in her belief, but I knew there was no reasoning or explanation that would help at that moment. Instead, I suggested we walk about the parking lot and pray a decade of the rosary, asking Mother Mary for comfort. My daughter calmed down during this walk and eventually returned to the classroom.

I promptly moved on from this encounter and never thought about it again. Fifteen years later, my daughter sent me an article she wrote about this experience and the deep impression it made on her faith journey. I had no idea.

The mustard seed is the “smallest of seeds” and yet becomes the largest of plants.

We don’t know how the smallest of actions may ripple through someone else’s life: a heartfelt smile, a word of encouragement, an act of prayer, kindness, or thanksgiving. St. Thérèse of Lisieux reminds us, “Remember that nothing is small in the eyes of God. Do all that you do with love.” These smallest of actions, exercised in love, may be exactly what is needed to complete God’s plan of bringing the kingdom of heaven to us.

In my daughter’s case, she is a beautiful young woman, a graduate of Notre Dame, a loving wife, a mother of three precious girls, and someone working full-time to protect life and advocate for human dignity at the Women’s Care Center. A mustard seed of prayer and love in a school parking lot grew into a vocation in which “birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.”