Silk Worms and the Spiritual Life

A week ago one of the students I taught in Rwanda took me over a very bumpy road deep into "the country" to show me the almost completed silk farm he initiated.  It's part of a large cooperative that engages people for all of Rwanda.  What fascinated me was the simplicity of making silk.  Thousands of silkworms were busy eating away (doin' what comes naturally) at an abundance of mulberry bush leaves that were placed at their convenience on large trays.  In 45 days the worms would complete their cocoons, which are then harvested, cured, dried (by machine) and then placed  on a simple machine which pulls the thread out of the cocoon and turns it onto a spindle. The thread is then bundled into skeins and shipped to a silk mill, where as in the textile industry, the thead is woven into cloth,  which is dyed, rolled onto bolts and then given over to a clothing manufacturer where ties, dresses, shirts and even suits emerge.
These little worms are doing nothing different from what Mother Nature made them to do, but linked together with thousands of others worms and human ingenuity, they contribute to jobs, livelihoods, and clothing.  Little are they aware of the major contribution they are making to the well-being of so many humans.
Sometimes we think that our little contribution to society, our slow "progress" in the spiritual life is worth nothing.  We do not see the overall picture, but in light of the example of these silk worms, just by being who we are and doing what we were meant to do, we are in some way contributing to the building of the reign of God.  Thanks, Lord, for making it so simple!
Bro. Rene