Recognizing That Your Unique Life Matters – Carry on My Heart
My bible study leader breezed through the door with the smell of cider and freshly baked goods chasing her.
After placing the warm batch of pumpkin muffins and a carafe of steaming hot cider on the table, she informed us that we were having story time for today’s lesson. (Listen, a person hands me a pumpkin muffin and tells me to sit on a comfy couch for 45 minutes—I don’t question—I just do.)
She began by showing us the cover of a “smallish” book called The Butterfly Effect, by Andy Andrews. The Butterfly Effect is an idea that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly’s wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world.
While this may seem like a ridiculous concept, it actually makes sense—
Little things matter and big things begin small.
I found it to be a wonderful and timely book for myself and the message God has been placing on my heart. The author explains how portions of history were determined by everyday people. He shows how a decision that one person made created ripples across the waters of time to change the course of history.
It was another message from a big God to remind me that every person matters and every life has a purpose.
YOU matter
Your story matters and can make a difference in ways you could never imagine.
Every day we make small, seemingly simple choices that could have the potential to have far-reaching effects without even realizing it.
It’s quite humbling to pause and think that you are literally the only you that will ever be on this Earth. Your uniqueness was handcrafted for a reason. You matter and every choice you make matters.
A few weeks ago I wrote a little about how your unique voice matters, and the importance of sharing your story.
Today I wanted to remind you of something else that matters, your unique life. And who better to remind us than a quote from the one and only, Dr. Seuss!
“Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.” Dr. Seuss, Happy Birthday to You!
Truthfully, there is no other YOU and there never will be.
You were put here to impact the people within your sphere.
We can be tempted to believe that we could never be an influencer in our little world to make a difference in the greater picture. But remember, the size of our sphere doesn’t matter, it’s what we do within that sphere that ultimately counts.
Perhaps today we could make a choice that impacts our sphere for the better?
One Day of Faith
We like to think of people in the Bible as being great pillars of faith every moment of their existence. When in reality, it’s a bunch of stories about a group of people who lived ordinary lives. They really only had one or two monumental moments where the spotlight was shined on them.
Think Esther, Ruth, and Rahab—to name a few.
These people had a choice to make. Their choices and their life had the potential to do little to nothing at all, but instead, they changed everything and really had no idea it would.
There are things we will do in the mundane that can’t possibly seem as if it will change the trajectory of tomorrow. You just never know how much that one decision can impact tomorrow or one hundred years from now.
Just like the Butterfly Effect, we have the ability to flap tiny wings that will reverberate into hurricane force winds.
When you think of the choices that were made in just a few examples I gave, they ultimately led to the arrival of the Messiah.
One person made a choice, lived their lives and changed everything.
The Bible is a beautiful reminder of how there are many parts to one story.
We are all a part of something bigger than ourselves.
It is nearly impossible to truly finish anything in this life. We primarily exist to pass the baton, so to speak. Every bit of what we are doing is simply building toward a future for someone else to finish.
Just as Moses passed the baton to Joshua in the desert, we live our lives with the understanding that we are truly only one part of the story.
As equally as important as Moses was in beginning the mission of bringing the Israelites into the promised land, so too was Joshua in finishing that race.
When we think of this example it’s apparent how we are only part of the story because even Joshua wasn’t the final word.
The baton is still being passed today.
Every seemingly simple choice we make in our everyday life has the possibility to change someone.
God chose to use various people from different walks of life for His story. It’s just ordinary people and their stories that have worked to change every generation after them.
This tells me that our stories matter.
Even Jesus intertwined his story into all of ours. He came at the appointed time in history to live, die and rise again. He began the race and then passed the baton to his disciples and to all those after them.
We are so much more than a singular person living a solitary life.
When we live our lives and share our stories we are creating space for someone to possibly change their perspective. We give hope when we follow after Jesus in faith, knowing even the hard things have a purpose.
Remember next time you are tempted to believe that your life and story is somehow insignificant;
You are the only you that will ever be.
And you and your story matter tremendously.
