Saturday, May 31, 2008

making a difference

A friend of mine delivers his two children to school every day on his way to work. Every single day, he asks them the very same question: "how will you make a difference today?"

I would imagine his kiddos get weary of the same-o same-o stupid question every day... but I guarantee they have something burned into their consciousness that we could all stand to remember...

So I challenge us to rekindle the 'outflow' spirit.... to re-energize the mindset which reminds us, minute by minute, to look for opportunities to make a difference.

And for the most part, that simply entails a keener awareness of our surroundings. Because I promise your daily world (like mine) is overflowing with chances for you to do good to others...

Is there a kind word you can say? Is there an extra 2 bucks you can leave as a tip? Is there a door you can open? Is there a dropped bag you can bend over and pick up?

There is an insurance commercial that I have fallen in love with (I admit that's a little weird)... it shows one person doing something nice for someone else, then that person doing something nice for someone, then that person.... you get the picture... at the end, the voiceover says something like "when an individual does the right thing, we call it personal responsibility; when a corporation does it, we call it Liberty Mutual"...

I thought it was just a very good advertising campaign until I learned that they developed an entire website to this sort of 'pay it forward' thinking... http://www.responsibilityproject.com/ is the site, and it is awesome!

The point is this: let's get in the habit of asking ourselves the question: "how will you make a difference today?"

You have no idea how far a simple random act of kindness to a single person will go in showing Jesus to your world!

Galatians 6:10

Blessings!

1 comment:

Lynn said...

Amen Brother! If we can just stay in that mode of awareness, we will see all kinds of small ways we can make a difference, without preaching!

Lynn saw a lady walking down the road this past week. it was raining cats and dogs and.... lots of other stuff. He said "grab the car keys and offer her a ride home." I did. She lived about three miles down the road and the road was a river from the rain. I took her to her door and she was very grateful. It cost me 10 minutes, but she knows who we are and asked what time services were on Sunday. Maybe she will come, maybe she won't, but the seed of kindness never comes back void! Okay, that is taking a small liberty with the text, but it amounts to the same thing. That is the Gospel, right?
Good thoughts, as usual! Thanks Tim!