Outlive Your Life: You were born to make a difference

This  morning I was dreading a trip to the treadmill and needed some inspiration & motivation.  I tried something new & left the iPod at home and replaced it with a new book by Max Lucado entitled Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make A Difference

"God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called."
This book is more than merely some compiled suggestions and an enjoyable read- it is a call to action encouranging each of us to share our gifts each and every day.  Whatever we feel compelled or called to share~ from money to a listening ear.  Each of us has something to offer another person, regardless of how small or insignificant it may seem to us-it could be potentially life changing to another. 

"Are you more dinghy than cruise ship? More stand-in than movie star? More plumber than executive? More blue jeans than blue blood? Congratulations. God changes the world with folks like you."
He points out that Jesus did not choose the most wealthy, the wisest or the most respected people in the land to share his word.  He chose the 'average Joes' of that time.  He also did not treat them individually, but rather as a unit -each of them had something a little different to offer - just as each of us has something different to offer today.
 
"There is something fundamentally good about taking time to see a person."
Most of us, whether we choose to admit it, are relatively content turning a blind eye to those around us who are in need or otherwise suffering.  Even the small things we do are always remembered...by someone.  Even if they are unseen. 

Matthew 24:35 "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."
How many times have you stopped to throw a dollar in a beggars hat, given a homeless person a meal-or better yet...offered to sit down and share a meal with them to learn about who they are and how they arrived at their current station in life.  Have you visited an elderly relative and showed them photos of your children or listened to them share stories of their own distant childhood?  Have you opened your home to someone you know who may eat alone every night?  Have you smiled at a stranger who perhaps hasn't felt worthy of a smile yet today?  What can YOU do today to make an impact on the life of another?

"Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me."
Often it seems easier to accept that we are only one person and cannot make a large enough change in the world to bother with it.  But as the saying goes:  "To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world." and as Lucado states in the opening chapter: "May you live in such a way that your death is just the beginning of your life."  and who wouldn't want that?


 
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their Book Sneeze book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 [...] : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."