She greeted me when I walked into the cafeteria on Parents’ Day. Our oldest son was a freshman in college and this was the first time after dropping him off that we’d been back to visit. We’d met faculty, his resident director, and lots of his new friends. So when this woman greeted me, I asked, “Tell me who you are?”
She hesitated. I wondered if I should know her? I imagine she looked down and saw my white cane and realized I couldn’t see her, and that’s probably why she answered in a voice as warm and inviting as dark hot chocolate, “Oh, Ma’am. I’m nobody. I just clean tables.”
“You are not a nobody! You are not just a table cleaner!” I told her. “I’m Jennifer. What’s your name?” She laughed and told me. I thought to myself, “Nobody is a nobody!”
Nobody is just a table cleaner. Or just a mom. Or just a clerk or just a CPA or just a… anything!
But we often find ourselves in places or seasons of life where we feel like a nobody. We don’t realize we matter and that what we do matters. But girl, everything you do matters because we women have incredible influence!
Everything you do matters because women have incredible influence!
Here are three reasons why:
1. You’re setting the tone
Because women tend to be more intuitive, we have an uncanny ability to read the tone in a room! Women can walk in and know immediately that something is wrong or sense a hostile undertow. But, just as a woman can sense the tone of a situation, she can also set the tone. A smile, some well-chosen words, or wisely timed silence can change the whole atmosphere. Whether you know it or not, you are like a thermostat when it comes to setting the tone. What you do, what you say, how you respond — all set the standard in your home or office.
2. You’re sending a message
Women say so much even before we open our mouths! Like sonar, we transmit approval or judgment, love or rejection, positivity or negativity. It’s as if our emotions serve as a pony express delivering life-shaping messages to all we encounter. Often, we transmit the same messages we have received. If we have received the message that we are good or smart or worthy, we transmit that same message to our friends, families, and those in our work places. But, if we have received unkind or untrue or damaging messages, if we don’t think about it, we will transmit the same dysfunctional messages to those in our spheres of influence.
3. You’re shaping the future
Women don’t just touch runny noses on chubby faces. Women don’t just touch computer keyboards, cash registers, or blood pressure cuffs. Women touch eternity. Everything you do can make an eternal impact on someone’s life and in our world.
It may seem like the daily tasks are just that – tasks. But, the reality is that each day, each moment, you have the opportunity to touch lives and make an eternal impact. And speaking of making an eternal impact, I’m so proud to show off some women who are shaping the future in their little corners of our big world! They are the womensministry.net 40 Under 40 women of 2016!
I am so inspired by them and I know you will be encouraged as you meet each of these 40 future shapers too! You just have to see the video I included and get fired up about what God is doing just like I am.
No matter what you do, sister, you matter and what you do today matters. So, next time you feel like a nobody, remember, you are the somebody God wants to use to set a tone of love and acceptance, so send messages of truth and shape the future for good.
Who are the women in your life who have helped shape you? Give them a shout out in the comments below!
