Recently I asked my 9-year-old daughter what she wants to be when she grows up.
She eagerly replied, “I want to be awesome and make history!”
Exactly how she plans to make history is still up in the air, because at her age, that part is irrelevant. All she knows is that she wants her life to count. She wants to matter. She wants a life of significance that people will remember for years and years to come.
And if we’re being honest, don’t we all feel the same way? Don’t we all long to leave a legacy that outlives our time on earth and keeps our memory alive?
Our desire for a meaningful life is good because God planted that desire in us. He created each of us for a special purpose meant to leave this world better than we found it.
Sometimes, however, we mistakenly assume that a meaningful life must be grand and spectacular. We look for big signs, big assignments, and clearly significant work. And when they don’t come, we get discouraged. We question our value and wonder if God is ignoring us to tend to more important people.
But God never ignores us. He thinks about us constantly and speaks all the time. The problem isn’t His lack of attention to us, but our lack of attention to Him. As Job 33:14 says, “For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it.” Usually when we miss God’s presence and God’s voice, it’s because we’re overlooking the small moments and small assignments where He quietly reveals Himself.
Sometimes when I forget the value of small moments and small assignments, I think of Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa had a simple philosophy known as “the little way,” which involved doing small things with great love.
Her entire legacy was based on loving the person in front of her. Her inspiration was St. Thérѐse de Lisieux, who came up with “the little way” and has been acclaimed as the greatest saint of modern times because her spirituality has influenced millions.
St. Thérѐse saw herself as the “little flower of Jesus,” created to give glory to God by simply being herself among the flowers in God’s garden. Just as a child becomes enamored with whatever is before her (and can be fascinated by a simple flower), St. Thérѐse believed we should also have a childlike focus and be completely attentive to the person right before us.
In her autobiography “Story of a Soul,” St. Thérѐse said that not every flower can be a rose. Some flowers were created to be wildflowers, daisies or violets.
She wrote:
“I understand how all the flowers God has created are beautiful, how the splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not take away the perfume of the violet or the delightful simplicity of the daisy.
I understand that if all flowers wanted to be roses, nature would lose her springtime beauty, and the fields would no longer be decked out with little wildflowers.
So it is in the world of souls, Jesus’ garden. He has created smaller ones and those must be content to be daisies or violets destined to give joy to God’s glances when He looks down at His feet. Perfection consists in doing His will, in being what He wills us to be.”
What St. Thérѐse recognized is how most humans, deep down, long to be roses. We believe that making an impact requires us to be the showstopper that gets noticed and continuously praised. We fear that being anything other than the rose makes us less special — and less important to God.
But every flower is special to God because God created every flower. He loves variety and the beauty that variety brings. Far more important than how the world sees us is how God sees us. And by blooming where we are planted, and staying true to our natural design, we bring God great joy. He delights in all the same, whether we’re a rose, a violet or a wildflower.
The world’s idea of a significant life is to have a wide impact. But I truly believe that the most influential people are those who have a deep impact. More than altering the course of history, they alter the course of someone’s soul. They understand how bringing just one person closer to God makes them an undeniable success in His book.
Whatever flower you’re made to be, be a good one. Use your life to make an eternal difference, not a temporary splash. If your name ends up in a history book for future generations that’s fantastic, but if not that’s okay too, because you’re still awesome in God’s eyes. You can still make history in heaven by valuing the size of your love for God over the size of your assignments, and finding peace in the pleasure you give Him even when nobody else is looking.
Kari Kubiszyn Kampakis is a Mountain Brook mom of four girls, columnist, and blogger for The Huffington Post. Her newest book, “LIKED: Whose Approval Are You Living For?,” releases November 15 and is available for pre-order on Amazon. Her first book, “10 Ultimate Truths Girls Should Know,” is available everywhere books are sold. Join Kari’s Facebook community at “Kari Kampakis, Writer,” visit her blog at karikampakis.com or contact her at kari@karikampakis.com.
