You Matter

 Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as the sun begins to set in my Sweet Home Alabama! It has been a beautiful day and I am going to finish it off perfectly after writing this Happy Friday…a date with my Beautiful Bride! 😊

My message this week is short and sweet – you matter! Your story matters! The life you live and the path you have walked to this point, matters! There is not a thing about you that is unimportant or insignificant! Nothing! Your life is precious, and this world would be a little less if it didn’t have you in it!

Earlier this week I was out to lunch with two coworkers and a very well-off person. After the luncheon one of my co-workers stated that they had wanted to share something personal with the other person however they didn’t know if it was o.k. to do so…it was about her life journey and the significant role the other person had unknowingly played in it. I strongly encouraged the person to listen to their heart in the future and to tell the story…and I stated that their story mattered. Ironically, had the story been shared, both would have been blessed. However, because the story was not told, one carries a message that may never be delivered and the other has no clue of how they blessed another.

Boy, have I thought a lot about that interaction throughout this week. Why wasn’t the message shared? Because the one person was extremely wealthy, the other person was not, and with this, the person who was not wealthy was, I don’t know, scared, shy, or perhaps embarrassed, to share their story.

Several years ago, when I served in another organization, we had an extremely wealthy individual – this person had the capacity to give a 9-figure gift, meaning $100,000,000+ and did!!! We had a meeting and afterwards heavy appetizers – translation = basically a small meal! It was so interesting to see what happened. The very wealthy person got their food, sat down to eat, and nobody got within 10 feet of this person…literally!!! Like my co-worker earlier this week, nobody apparently felt “worthy” of sitting next to this person. At this point in my life, I was driving a Toyota Corolla 42 miles each way to work because I couldn’t afford to live closer, and I was making about $48,000 per year. So, what did I do? I asked the person if I could sit with them. After the person said “yes, please” we sat and talked for nearly an hour about life, family, and the organization I served. We had a great time, I made a new friend, and all my co-workers and supervisors were horrified! I smile now thinking about it… 😊

My career has blessed me so richly with meeting some of the most fascinating people. I have met very wealthy and very famous people and I have met people who are in, or have overcome, unimaginable battles. And you know what I have found? Well, a couple of things:

First, the great ones, the ones that have really achieved something, they make you feel as though you are the one who has accomplished something. From Hall of Fame athletes to CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, to world famous artists and musicians, to some of the greatest scientists in the world, without fail the truly great ones never made me feel inferior. They wanted to know about my life, my family, my story. There is a lesson in there for all of us.

Second, every single one of us has a story and every single one of them matters. There is not one person born, not one person on the face of this earth who God doesn’t love, who He didn’t give a purpose to, and whose life doesn’t matter…not one! Now, some choose not to person the greatness that is within them however that is, perhaps, another Happy Friday for another day.

Friends, please don’t care your messages with you. Please share them. I fall into the category that our tests become our testimonies and our messes become our messages. It is not just a cliché, it is a fact. Just become someone has accomplished more, has more money, has more [I don’t care, you fill in the blank] does not mean their life matters more, they are more important than you or any of the other crap that we believe!

So, my two-fold challenge is simple this week:

Pick your head up and be proud of the you that you were created to be. This world would be a lot worse place if you weren’t in it. Nobody is just like you and if you were not here there would be a void that no one else can fill. And second, please value and appreciate everyone…it costs you nothing but taking the time to care. So, they have faults and failures, flaws, and scars…WE ALL DO! Please, extend the grace we would all like to receive and encourage them as they walk their journey’s.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great evening, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious families, and please stay well! Date time!!! 😊

Kev