A single star can light the dark.
A single smile can warm a heart.
A single hand can lift a Life.
A single voice can speak the truth.
A single life can make a difference.
- Anonymous
The quote above comes from a plaque given to me many years ago by close friends. It speaks volumes to me, especially as a single person. But it applies to all of us. No matter who we are, we can make a difference.
Too often we think we need to do something big to make a difference. I think it can be the ‘little ‘things that make the biggest difference. Let me share how it is the little things that have made the biggest difference for me.
My nephew was killed in a car accident last November. As I continue to process through the grief of losing a loved one, it has been the seemingly little things that have strengthened me, encouraged me, and sustained me in this sometimes overwhelming journey.
It is receiving a hug from a friend or a text message from someone whom I didn’t know at the time – saying we’re praying for you. It is someone taking the time to have ‘tea’ with me. It is receiving a card months later from someone who just wants me to know they are thinking of me. It is someone taking the time to plant a tree in memory of my nephew. It is someone willing to let me still cry when I need to. I could go on… but you get the idea. It isn’t the ‘big’ things, it’s the little things that make a difference.
Who is in your life that you could share a smile with this week, or send a note, or give a hug? Do a ‘small’ thing this week to make a big difference in someone’s life.
19/06/2009 at 8:51 am Permalink
Carma,
Two days ago I ran into a friend that I hadn’t spoken to in some time. We had been somewhat estranged because I had been, and I am, going through some difficult times. During the conversation, which was not accrimonious, she asked me what she could have done. I told her that what I had needed was many of the small things you spoke about. It seems to often we get focused on the big picture of other’s problems and if we can’t see a solution we withdraw. This seems to be right to us unless it happens that we are the one being “shunned” because others don’t know what to do. We rush for a final solution and forget that peace is in the now. Yesterday it hit me that God accepts me without strings and that helped, but it is to easy to forget this when we are feeling alienated fro our world. I guess we who know should stick together and demonstarte to the blind what we are talking of. Thanks for this psot.
19/06/2009 at 1:07 pm Permalink
Thanks for the reminder… so what can I do today? Within my framework what will make the world a better place for someone else… and in the end make my world better as well. The other day as I was asking God some questions sitting under a tree at Riverside Park, the answers were quite simple… “God at this point how can I touch the lives of my neighbors?” “By a smile, by waving, by greeting them as you see them.” Things that to me seem so insignificant, so inadequate… but they ARE things I can do within my season… helping my neighbor pull her weeds… little things within my boundaries that can make a difference. A whole new way of thinking for me. Being willing to do what He calls me to do… because that is where true value is found!
21/06/2009 at 3:29 pm Permalink
Bill, Thanks for sharing from real-life experience. I wrote this post during a moment of ‘feeling small’ Yet, I realize it is the seemingly ‘small’ things people do for me are what make the biggest difference.
21/06/2009 at 3:42 pm Permalink
Brenda, I think we would be surprised if we could somehow ‘see’ what those ‘little’ things do for others. I wonder if the terms ‘big’ and ‘small’ things are even within God’s way of looking at things… I also liked your last line – a good reminder where true value is found. Thanks for sharing!
25/06/2009 at 2:32 pm Permalink
Carma,
Apart we are small, but together we are as large as we need to be.