Making a difference in someone’s life is something we all have experienced. Whether we remember it or even know it is another matter.
Think back to growing up. I am willing to bet that you had a teacher, religious leader, friend, or acquaintance who said or did something you have never forgotten. Something that shaped you for your life ahead.
Nine times out of ten, you never told that person and he or she never knew what a difference that moment in time made in your life.
I have too many examples to list here, but the earliest I recall is from 2nd Grade at Harrington Elementary School in Jackson, Michigan. My teacher was Miss Bisbee and she was only there for one semester. She left to get married after the Fall ended. Even though I was only 7 years old, I remember her name and what she said to me.
We had a writing assignment and I wrote about “Stinky the Skunk.” My Uncle George Bell (husband to my mother’s sister Violet Jordan) had told me a story about Stinky the Skunk. So when the assignment came, I wrote a story about how Stinky was hated by everyone until a house caught fire and he put it out with his stinky spray.
Yeah, I know – totally a 7 year old boy kind of story. Ha! But Miss Bisbee told me I had a great imagination and I wrote the story very well. She told me I should be a writer when I grew up.
I didn’t become a writer, but the confidence she instilled in me led me to read voraciously and to write without fear. By sixth grade, I was among the top 6 students in my class and was reading at a 10th grade level. This really shaped my successes later in life.
I don’t know whatever became of Miss Bisbee. She would be in her late 80s now, if she is still alive. Obviously, I never got to tell her what a difference she made in my life.
I would love to recount more examples – my life has been filled with them. My purpose of this blog, however, is to tell you that YOU have been that difference in someone else’s life and you will never know it.
Sometime in your journey, you have said or done or written something that made a huge difference in someone’s life. Chances are, you never knew it. You don’t remember it. But it was major.
This is why I believe as I do. We all have gifts. They are different from one another. But when we discover them and share them, when we love our neighbor, when we reach out to a stranger, when we say words of encouragement, we might just be making a huge difference in someone’s life.
I thank you for being in my life.
Go forth and make memories.
