• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe

Big fat juicy ones, long slim slimy ones…

April 16, 2018
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

On our morning drive to school it was gray and rainy. It looked like a long, wet, gray day without outdoor recess.As our car inched along in the drop-off line, I spotted a little girl—maybe 6 or 7 years old—bounding along the sidewalk. She was stopping every few feet to bend down to the concrete, pick something up, and then toss it into the grass.

“What is she throwing?” I asked our sons, who were watching too from the backseat. “Are those sticks?”

But then one of the sticks wiggled, and realization dawned.

They were worms.

The little girl was scampering along in the cold drizzly rain, picking up worms and tossing them into the grass.

We were fascinated—and maybe a little bit disgusted. Because…worms.

We talked about how slimy they are, and how we would wash our hands—We would, right? Before snack?—if we picked up worms on our way to school. Then we talked about how happy the worms must be to land in the grass.

Then suddenly we were at the front of the line, and my boys jumped out of the car and ran off to school.

And I drove away thinking about worms.

It has never occurred to me to pick up a worm and move it to moist grass. But this little girl was on a mission. She saw each worm as worth helping. She didn’t care that she was on her way to school. And I have to admire the man patiently walking next to her—I assumed he was her father—who calmly watched as she picked up each worm and tossed it into the grass.

It reminded me of the starfish story.

And it made me think of all the people who see a need and step in to help, happily, willingly, without worry that their hands might get dirty and wet.

The world is full of people who help in large and tiny ways, making a difference for people and creatures, working for causes of all sizes. Maybe God doesn’t need me to rescue the earthworms. Maybe He needs me to help in some other way.

But whatever that is, I hope I can do it with the joy of a little girl running through the rain on her way to school.

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Rita Buettner

View all posts from this author

| Recent Commentary |

Images of Mary: Can we find the Blessed Mother in the Old Testament?

How public opinion can influence migration policies

Reckoning with empire: A Catholic critique of American foreign policy in a nuclear age

Wide shot of a sunrise on the beach, with a figure standing toward the left watching the light come into the sky

We’re at the beach. Let’s go see the sunrise

The ‘both/and’ pope

| Recent Local News |

Gun buyback exceeds expectations, previous totals

Radio Interview: The situation in Gaza with Catholic Near East Welfare Association

Patrick Brice sentenced to home detention for attacks on elderly pro-life supporters

Notre Dame of Maryland University joins with Milwaukee college to address teacher shortage

Sister Agnese Neumann dies at 95

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Hope is knowing God is always ready to forgive, pope says at audience
  • Images of Mary: Can we find the Blessed Mother in the Old Testament?
  • Report: Christian church attacks down, but recent totals still higher than 2018-2022
  • How public opinion can influence migration policies
  • Home viewing roundup: What’s available to stream and what’s on horizon
  • Petition filed at Supreme Court seeks overturn of landmark same-sex marriage ruling
  • Head of Spanish political party criticizes Catholic Church’s defense of Muslim community
  • At 80th anniversary Mass in Nagasaki, people urged to bring Christ’s love, peace to world
  • Cardenal salvadoreño: ‘Queremos vivir la democracia’

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en