Small Movement and Large Impact

“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

There are many different ways it can be said. Poems of eloquent oration speak from the heart of its meaning. The written word from scriptures bear centuries old beliefs in its powerful truth. Many a performer has sung its praises and quotes from the wise speak to reinforce it.

What I speak of is, "the peace that you give, will be given unto you."

It is an old belief that when you give of yourself to others, when you make things better for them, you will receive much more in return. Very simplistic some would say. Simple can be very powerful in the bigger picture of life.

As you go through life, the big things are clear most times. They are well defined with a lot of well documented results. Yet it is the small things in life when added together outweigh all of the big things.

Your impact upon others in little increments ultimately add up into a large impact.

Think of small bad things in life, the ones you fail to act upon. Little things slowly collecting until they create a huge collapse. You have seen it happen to others and you have seen it occur in your own life.

Well the opposite can happen in positive moments and touches upon the lives of others. The small things add up over time into large ones. You serve in goodness to those around you, being a positive force upon others.

Change is gradual but watch as it grows.

In time you will see your life change for the better. Others will begin to act in a positive way upon your own life. Yes, the peace you bring to others will be brought upon you.

All you need to do is be the one to create a small movement.

Stay inspired my friends.

Its A Small World After All

"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies."
- Mother Teresa

Just how big is our earth? Watch this video to put it into perspective.



Do we still feel small? Of course not because even the smallest can have a large impact upon that which surrounds it.

Our sun is small in comparison to the larger objects in our universe but it has a tremendous impact upon our lives. The moon is small in comparison to the Earth, but it impacts the tides of our oceans. And the stars in the night sky seem small in our eyes, but they inspire great artists and the dreams of many a child.

We might feel small, but our ability to impact others on a large scale does not require a large object.

It requires a large desire.

Stay inspired my friends!

Perfect Game

"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies." ~ Mother Teresa

A baseball pitcher named Roy Halladay became only the second person to ever throw a no-hitter in post-season play on October 5, 2010. It was quite an accomplishment when you look at the history of baseball. It was made even more amazing because on May 29 of that same year, Halladay pitched the 20th perfect game in Major League Baseball history.

As they say, "27 up, 27 down" for a perfect game.

So what does pitching a no-hitter in baseball have to do with living a great life? Most certainly having that level of talent brings adulation and lots of money which helps make life more comfortable. But this story has to do with the person behind the talent; their character is what makes this a great story.

Roy Halladay did more than just receiving acclaim for his accomplishments.

After pitching the perfect game in May that year, he arranged to commemorate the accomplishment of a perfect game. Halladay presented roughly sixty Swiss-made Baume and Mercier watches he had purchased to everyone in the clubhouse. Each watch was presented in commemorative boxes bearing the inscription,

"We did it together. Thanks, Roy Halladay."

To top it off, each watch was engraved with the date of the game, the line score, and the individual recipient's name. And if you are not aware, there are only nine players on the field at any one time. He gave out sixty of these gifts which were not just given to his fellow ballplayers.

These sixty people were the coaches, the trainers, and down to what may seem to be the most insignificant people to some. But not to Roy, he understood and acknowledged that even the smallest have a large impact on our success in life.

Your own life involves both ends of this spectrum.

While you toil away at something, you may feel insignificant in what you do. But know that even the smallest flower along the roadside serves a grand purpose. The nectar a bee consumes, which creates food for the hive yet sustains the bee to carry on the pollination of other plants. The smallest flower is involved in the circle that will carry life forward.

And if when we achieve greatness in our life, remember and acknowledge all the other people who helped you accomplish it. For without others, our accomplishments are hard to achieve. Without the smallest flowers, the bee has less to draw upon. In time, the bee will not have the ability to sustain its grand work.

The largest depend upon the small as do the small upon the largest.

Know that your life is never too big to have done so on your own. Nor is your life too small not to have an impact on the life of others. Not all of us can pitch a no-hitter, but each of us can make a difference in the life of another. And when we impact the lives of other people, its as good as having a "27 up and 27 down" great life.

Stay inspired my friends.

The Fire Inside

“Abruptly the poker of memory stirs the ashes of recollection and uncovers a forgotten ember, still smoldering down there, still hot, still glowing, still red as red.” ~ William Manchester

This is a story that comes from a former church Pastor of mine. He was was speaking to a large group of men about re-igniting their lives. And as the story goes, many years ago he was attending a beach-side conference which always held a very large bonfire at conference end.

In the days leading up to the conference, folks involved with putting on the event had built a huge pile of wood and timbers. This was going to be a very large fire for those gathered. Think Burning Man Festival size fire but at a church related event.

As the conference began, the rains began with it. There was rain pouring down for two to three days. Through out the week it was soaking everything including the wood being piled high for the final night bonfire. Of course the final night came, the rains had ceased and everyone had expectations of a grand fire.

As you would guess, the wood was wet and the days sunshine had not dried it fully. So organizers and good intentioned folks began gathering anything flammable. They found newspaper, dry brush and lots of matches were consumed trying to get this bonfire burning bright.

Then out of the corner of Steve's eye, he sees a person coming with a large fuel can, gasoline one would expect, letting the liquid fly towards the pile. It was estimated this person had two or more gallons of the highly flammable liquid.

To no one's surprise, there were a few small embers from the failed attempts to fully ignite the wood pile. Those embers were still glowing within the pile of wood, newspaper and twigs. I am sure you have seen what happens with gasoline. The fumes are flammable and all it takes it a small spark or ember to ignite it completely.

An instant solar flare occurred which lit up the entire coastline. News reports indicate ships off-shore thought it was a light beacon. So intense that...well, you get the picture.

The amazing thing about this story is all it took was one small flame.

One small spark or ember to change everything.

Something so small and singular in purpose we somehow forget that it exists, but it does exist. It exists in each of us, deep inside where we have forgotten it.

That one small flame glows, just waiting for you to throw something on it. To let it ignite your life and explode into something great. Oh yes, it does exist and all it takes is that one small flame. A small touch or a small amount of movement to change your life.

Stay inspired my friends.

Even the Smallest

"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies." ~Mother Teresa

As we watch the Major Baseball playoffs, it reminds me of a story regarding a pitcher named Roy Halladay. Roy became only the second person to ever throw a no-hitter in post season play on October 5, 2010. It was quite an accomplishment when you look at the history of baseball. More amazing is that on May 29 of that same year, Halladay had also pitched the 20th perfect game ever in Major League Baseball history.

As they say, "27 up, 27 down" to complete the game.

So what can pitching a no-hitter in baseball have to do with living a great life. Most certainly having that level of talent brings adulation and money, lots of money that helps make life comfortable. But it is the person behind the talent, their character, that makes a great life. And Roy Halladay did something beyond just receiving acclaim for his accomplishments.

After pitching the perfect game earlier that year in May, he arranged to commemorate the accomplishment. Halladay went and presented 60 Swiss-made Baume and Mercier watches he had purchased to everyone in the clubhouse. Each were presented in boxes bearing the inscription: "We did it together. Thanks, Roy Halladay." To top it off, on the back of each watch was engraved the date of the game, the line score, and the individual recipient's name.

Those sixty people were not just his fellow ball-players. They were the coaches, the trainers, and people that others might have considered to be insignificant participants to his accomplishment.

But not to Roy.

Roy understood and acknowledged that even the smallest of us have a large impact on success in life. While you toil away at something in life, you may feel insignificant. Just know that even the smallest flower along the roadside serves a grand purpose. The nectar a bee consumes, which creates food for the hive yet sustains the bee to carry on the pollination of other plants. The smallest flower is involved in the circle that will carry life forward.

And if we have greatness in our life, we need to remember and acknowledge all the other people that helped us accomplish it. For without many others your life can not be sustained for very long. Without the smallest flowers, the bee has less to draw upon. In time, the bee can no longer sustain its grand work. Even the largest depend upon the small; life is pretty grand in that respect.

So know that your life is never too big to have done so on your own. Nor is your life too small not to have an impact on the life of another person. Not all of us can pitch a no-hitter, but each of us can make a difference in the life of another. And when we impact the lives of other people, its as good as having a "27 up and 27 down" great life.

Stay inspired my friends!

Huge Small Changes

"It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory." ~W. Edwards Deming

I get inspiration from a lot of different places and in a lot of weird ways as well. Today it comes from a cartoon called Speed Bump by cartoonist Dave Coverly. It shows two sperm traveling and one telling the other, "eh, you go on ahead...I don't like change." It may take you a moment to get it, but change is what will happen when the one tail meets up with its destination.

Even at the earliest stages of life, change is happening to us. To think that the one that did meet its destination and accept change is actually us. We are the product of what was a fight to experience change. As tiny as life creation starts, such a huge impact it has on everything.

One might argue that a biological force of nature doesn't do so by choice. But since we are a product of that biology, we are also instilled with that same force which drives us forward. What happens is that the driving force exists inside, but we become too smart for our own good. We can overcome our reluctance by getting out of our own way thus allowing ourselves to achieve great things.

Then again, we each have free will to choose not to move forward. We can sit still and let life pass us by. We can choose to fall back and let others move forward to meet with change. When we do though, we leave so much undiscovered, so much unfullfilled not only for others but for ourselves.

Think back to my beginning story of the two sperm. One decides to stay back, only to live a short and lonely life; very short as a matter of fact. The other moves boldly forward to meet with its future. A long and great life filled with expectation and excitement.

Our ability to change doesn't begin and end at conception. It can happen at any point in our lives. We only have to choose to move forward with it; to push through and meet up with our own future.

Stay inspired my friends!

Person of Importance

"The significance of a man is not in what he attains, but rather what he longs to attain." -Kahlil Gibran

We can feel pretty small in what some may call the "grand scheme" of life. We can tend to feel awfully insignificant with all that goes on around us. Take for instance the size of the earth. The planet Jupiter is eleven times larger than our living planet earth. And that giant object which sustains us, the Sun, is 109 times larger than the planet earth.

It can really start to make us feel small.

But each of us are important and significant within the realm of our life. To those in our life, our family, our friends and those we come in contact with every day. It sounds very much like the Frank Capra movie called "Its a Wonderful Life" but it is true; you do matter.

All that you do has impact either good or bad. You get to choose which it is going to be. My hope is that you will make the good choices. And know that you are a person of importance.

Stay inspired my friends.