It’s amazing to think of the impact one person can have. If I have an impact on a few people, and then those few people each have an impact on a few more people, pretty soon the number of people I’ve impacted in some way has grown exponentially.
But this kind of impact isn’t the result of having special skills or an abundance or resources, and it certainly doesn’t just happen. Rather, it’s the result of investing what we do have, however little or much, into the lives of others.
The people who make a positive impact in our lives are the ones who are generous–the ones who share what they know or what they have–and who actively look for ways to help others succeed. It’s not that they have more time or necessarily any more resources or skills, but rather a willingness to let go of what what they do have for the sake of another. And as they let go of what they have, their generosity affects the lives of those around them.
It takes time, and it takes intentionality, but it’s in this giving away of what we have that a long-lasting impact is created–one that continues to multiply even after we’re no longer around.