Consider this:
Nothing would be the same without you.
Your family and friends certainly would be different people than they are.
But it goes beyond that. Sure that coffee shop you were in four less than four minutes was packed with people, and you only talked to the barista for a second. And the guy behind you didn’t even say anything when he handed you the paper you dropped, so what difference did you make being there? Well, first off, the barista has been saving up to visit her aunt, and that three dollars you just tipped her puts her over the two-hundred dollar mark she needed. And the guy who handed you the paper? He was having a really hard morning but when you said “Thank you so much, I don’t know what I would’ve done if I lost this.”, it got him thinking about the subtle beauty of human existence.
Also, remember last week when you complimented your neighbor’s garden? She’s been slaving over those daisies for twenty-something years, and since her husband passed away last spring, no one had noticed the flowers. Except you.
And there was that young man who you didn’t even know existed who told his grandma how you were the quintessential stranger in the bookstore he had seen, and he hoped to again.
Or how about the little boy who overheard you in the grocery store telling a joke about dinosaurs, and then he rushed home and told the joke to his father (claiming it as his own as most nine year old boys would), and his dad and him laughed together loudly and truly, for the first time in a long time.
Then, to go back to your family and friends. Without you, there’s a good chance that your best friend wouldn’t have listened to Broadway soundtracks that she now loves, or that song that seems to be able to always make her smile, or that telivision show she now adores, and you showed her all that.
Your brother wouldn’t have the scar he has on his left arm if he hand’t helped you climb down from the tree you were scared to get off of by yourself.
Or how your niece will never be deprived of Disney-sing-alongs, your sister wouldn’t have that drawing you gave her in the sixth grade that she’s kept hanging up all these years, your mom might not have relaxed when she should’ve if you weren’t there to tell her to, and your dad wouldn’t have started putting parmesan on his asparagus dish.
And those? All those things you’ve just realized you’ve had a hand in? Those are just the small things.
You’ve impacted people in much bigger ways.
Like when your friend called you because the girl he loved had broken his heart and he needed to understand why girls act the way they do, and you were able to make him feel better.
Or when you sat with that lonely girl at church, and she went home that night and looked in the mirror and for once she actually liked what she saw.
When the kid you directed in the school play said he wanted to be an actor when he grew up because you made it so fun.
And there was that time you told your mom she loved her and she said there was nothing she needed to hear more right that minute.
So next time you feel worthless, or you feel the world would be better off without you, or that you haven’t made an impact on anyone or anything, remember all of that. Remember that you don’t know when you’re impacting someone’s life. Realize that you can easily effect people, for better or worse. The bottom line is, you make a difference.
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