Does What I Do Matter?
Why your voice counts more than you think.
At a book signing last weekend, I watched a young mother herd her passel of young ones past the far-too-easy-to-reach breakables on display at the front of the bookstore.
Chapters and Indigo stores all have a wonderful kids section, but in order to reach it, parents must run the gauntlet of wine glasses and candles without letting their children touch anything.
I have been in their shoes—my eldest three boys span only three years in age, and my fourth one was energetic enough to need a SWAT team of his own.
When your world revolves around protecting and feeding young minds who each possess much more energy than you could even dream about, every small victory—like making it past the home decor department without having to empty your wallet for damages—can feel huge.
Contributing to the world? Ha! You’re just happy you got your kid out the door with matching socks on. Or socks, period.
Caught up in the endless cycle of diapers and toddler drama, I often felt as though my small life didn’t make much difference in this world—even though I knew that the contributions I was making to my children’s futures were greater than the sum of our daily activities. One day, my young men would have the foundation they needed to go out and change their worlds. It was like the longest-term network marketing plan ever. :-)
However, standing in that bookstore, surrounded by the offerings of some of literature’s greatest minds—names like Stephen King, Brandon Sanderson, Maya Angelou, Will Ferguson, and Alice Hoffman, to name a few—I couldn’t help feeling overwhelmed yet again. In a world with so many great literary works, how could my one small voice make a difference? And does the world even need to hear it?
Watching that young mother, I remembered the lessons learned from when my own children were small: the small seeds I’m planting may seem unimportant now, when I cannot see the fruit.
But no one else’s voice sounds exactly like mine. No one else has had my exact experiences or gained my precise insight. No one else has the exact combination of skills I have to share with the world. And I have been given tremendous gifts to steward—it is my responsibility to share them, no matter what the result may be. That’s what love does.
Love is why it matters.
You have something to contribute, too. Whether it’s big or small, whether you work a nine-to-five or live on disability, whether you’re in the toddler trenches or an executive war room—the biggest difference you can make is in how you love people.
What we do? Yes, it matters. How we do it?
That matters even more.
So I hope you love well today, friend. And by loving well, you will find that you have lived well.
And every moment of it mattered.
“You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.”
This was originally posted in my Books & Inspiration newsletter, 2018-02-14. Do you want to receive inspiration like this in your inbox? Sign up here.
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You may also enjoy this original song about love as our purpose on my Listening Room blog: “Let Me Love”, written by Talena Winters, performed by Larrissa Mundt.
