We have been sick with a very yucky cold.  I have caught it twice because it ripples through our family and takes about 2 weeks to leave!  It reminds me that suffering is an opportunity:  an opportunity to become more like Christ because it humbles us.
Do we need to travel the 7 seas or be in great places to do great things for the Lord?  It is through our daily and often little sacrifices, our opportunities, that we can become more holy and more like Christ.  Our sicknesses, our irritations, our daily duties that often repulse us bring opportunities to raise to great heights in the spiritual life.  Thomas A Kempis says an unmortified spirit is our greatest hindrance.  Our mortifications teach us to love.  If we die to our self in daily, small ways, and allow humility to take root, we are freed.  We are free to love:  to love the Lord, to love our self and to love our neighbor.  Blessed are the poor in spirit.