I was sitting alone in a small red church in Ellsworth, Maine during my sophomore year in college. It wasn’t a packed house; normal for a New England church. The people in the pews were sitting sporadically across the whole sanctuary like the ripples you see in the water as the wind gusts here and there. Since this was my first day attending service, I didn’t know the names of anyone. As the service ended, I stood up to head out and that’s when it happened. Millie, a mom of five kids grabbed hold of my arm, introduced herself and in a matter of minutes said, “you’re coming home with us for dinner.” That was it.
This definitive moment in time, which brings tears to my eyes as I think about it, led to my life being impacted for multiple years as I headed to their home on Mount Desert Island each Sunday. I became one of her kids even though she had enough of her own. She impacted me immensely and in so many ways; ways I am still uncovering today, 25 years later. I went on to graduate college, go into the Marine Corps, and while on one of my deployments; Millie suddenly got cancer and was gone. Gone before I could really understand the level of impact she had on me or even get the chance to simply thank her. Millie shared her journey with me both in words and actions potentially not even knowing the degree of impact she had on my life.
As I am reflecting on that time, I think to myself ‘What if she hadn’t grab a hold of me? Where would I be? Who would I be?’. Someone once said, “We shape our lives not by what we carry with us - but by what we leave behind.” Millie had an innate understanding of this. She followed her beliefs in God, “To love your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” AND “To love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 12:30-31; ). This is what I think ultimately guided her in that brief moment to reach out and grab my arm. To act. To show love. To share her life with someone she knew nothing about.
Maybe you don’t think that your journey would matter to anyone, but have you ever listened to someone share their journey and thought ‘Oh, someone else has been through that too? I thought it was just me.’ Your journey, the paths of life that you have taken, may seem ordinary to you, but they might seem extraordinary to someone else. Every journey shared is a chance for someone to feel less alone and more open to grow as a person and ultimately as a leader. I also believe that as you open up and share your journey with others they will be more willing to share theirs with you. This is where real, true growth begins to break through the soil like a new plant in the spring.
Sharing your journey is where others true growth breaks though the soil as well as yours.
OPEN YOUR EYES! Seek out the opportunities to share your journey that God has allowed you to experience. Maybe you are reading this and can think of an opportunity which you chose not to act; go back and seek that opportunity if it still exists. Maybe an opportunity has not presented itself yet. Be patient, an opportunity will come soon. Your journey, even if it seems so simple to you, could make a significant impact for someone around you. It could be one of your direct reports, a colleague, one of their children, the neighbor boy or girl, a newly married couple, or it could be that college kid sitting in front of you at church. Are you willing to sacrifice your time to help another person grow? I hope so…because what you will find is that you will grow just as much from the experience. My challenge to you is to open your eyes and be ready for that opportunity in your life so you can share your journey. Go with eyes wide open…make an impact in someone’s life.
