You Make An Impact Even When You're Unaware

Here's the second part of the lesson I learned about impact during the long weekend of Labor Day.

2) You make an impact even when you are unaware. Perhaps, you make more unintentional impacts that intentional. Let me explain.

When I was young, there were a handful of college students who were generous enough to babysit my siblings and myself, so that my parents could go on dates and stuff like that. I don't remember a lot of those times, but the memories of the babysitters that I do have are very clear.

While sitting around the supper table during the Labor Day reuinion, one of the ladies (who was one of the baby sitters) asked me if I remembered her and her husband. More than likely, she asked me because it had been 15 years since I had seen them, I was a kid the last time we were around each other, and nothing out of the ordinary happened when we were together.

Much to her and her husband's surprise, I began rattling off memory after memory that I had about them both. With each detail hat I shared, her mouth dropped open a little more. She was shocked. In fact, she didn't remember most of the specific details that I remembered. After a few more minutes of talking about days gone by, she closed the topic with a very profound statement, and it was this, "It is amazing. You never know what people will remember about you and what impact that will have on them."

That is exactly the point. We walk around doing the everyday things that make up our lives, and we have in our heads what it means to "make an impact." When we enter a situation that we deem impactful, we prepare ourselves to put our best foot forward. But the truth is that every minute of every day is an opportunity to make an impact. And the tricky part is that you will rarely get to choose to make an impact. These opportunities will take place whether you decide to step up or not. The words out of your mouth, the actions you take, the attitudes you project are all things that are seen by others and make an impact in one way or another.

Walk through your day with intentional purpose to exhibit Jesus in all you do. Some situations may seem insignificant, but you never know what someone will remember about you and the impact that will have on their lives.