Some of us think we have no influence in the world because we've never held an important job, never been celebrated in any way.
Let go of that lie!
Take my friend Alice, for example. This tiny, smiling woman--barely 5 feet tall--saw herself as "nothing special."
Yet when Alice died six employees from her local Post Office attended--in uniform. One stood up to tell how much they would miss their friend.
"Usually we get complaints about this and that. But when lovely Alice breezed in, we always smiled. Every week or so she brought us a heaping plate of her delicious homemade cookies.
"I asked her once why she did it and Alice said, Well, with her old recipes she always baked too many, so she just shared the excess. Each time she thanked us for always delivering her mail, no matter what the weather. She never left without saying, "God bless you, all of you!
"She always called out a jaunty Hello to the people working behind the counter, too. Alice brought us sunshine and every one of us will miss her!"
This mail carrier walked back to his seat, blotting his eyes all the way.
After him came the newspaper editor, who loved reading her insightful letters.
The school principal said he hung on to Alice's regular letters of encouragement to him and the teaching staff.
A neighbor wiped away tears as she told how Alice loved to share roses she clipped from her bushes--and her "famous" chocolate chip cookies.
A college student choked up as he shared how Alice, who lived down the street, always had time to listen. Sometimes her encouragement and faith in him kept him in school.
Like Alice, your small kindnesses leave their mark
Don't discount your importance in the lives of the people around you, in ways you may never know. Your life matters more than you can guess.
I knew Alice and I promise you she wouldn't have taken cookies to her local Post Office so that some employee would come to her funeral and speak well of her.
Alice was just being Alice and living out what she read and studied in the Bible. She told us often how thankful she was for life.
She counted blessings, big and "small," as in, "God has blessed me so bountifully! I thank him every day that I can still walk around and my eyes still let me see the beauty in this world God created."
Alice reminded us nearly every week to lift up people around us. "God created every human being to be one-of-a-kind, so let's be encouragers. Nobody has an easy life."
None of us are "ordinary"
I love what C. S. Lewis said:
"There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal."
We may suppose we live insignificant lives. Not so!
For instance, if you're a mom or dad, every day as you interact with your children, you influence how they look at life.
They see the world through your eyes before they form an opinion of their own. You write the script for how they think of God, how they view authority, for how they love--or don't know how to love.
By the way, we parents do not lose our influence just because our children have reached adulthood. Yes, our grown children live their own lives, but most times, they (perhaps secretly) care what we think.
More importantly, they still watch to see whether we live out what we tell them is important.
Whether they see us as friend or critic is up to us, more than to them.
Each of us is like a stone tossed into a lake
We leave ripples that travel far beyond ourselves.
Never discount your importance in the lives of the people around you. You matter, in ways you may never know.
Just as water can wear away stone, so our small deeds, over and over, carry a lasting effect.
If we tuck that point-of-view in the back of our minds we'll become more aware. More alert for ways we can touch and encourage others along the way.
The greatest kindness we can show is to point them to Jesus, the only source of lasting hope and joy. The One who powered dear little Alice to touch people in lasting ways as she lived her "ordinary" life.
Isn't that what we're here for?
For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 NIV
Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 NIV
Thankful, too,
Lenore
