Friday, October 02, 2009

It Doesn't Take Much to Make a Difference

When I was a little girl, I spent a lot of time visiting my grandparents' farm. They grew everyting on the farm - all sorts of fruit and vegetables.

My Grandfather did something very special for me every year. He would pick the largest apple from his crop and save it for me. He had an apple polishing machine and would put my apple through the machine over and over and over again to make it unbelievably shiny!

I was always so tickled by this! It was a very simple act, and yet 40 years later, I still remember it with a warm feeling in my heart.

This didn't take him long to do, but it was a sweet way for him to show me that I was special to him. I never 'lost' that message. It has stayed with me my entire life.

It is easy to do little things that show other people we care about them and that they matter to us. Sometimes we let life get so busy we forget to do those little things. We might also convince ourselves that we need to do something 'big' in order for it to matter - and then do nothing because we don't have the time or resources to do something 'significant.'

I encourage us all to look for little things we can do to let those we care about KNOW that they matter to us and that we are thinking of them. It can make a huge difference in someone's day... or even their life.

Here's a picture of my Grandma and Grandpa Drazdoff in 1970.



Here's a picture of my Grandpa's apple polishing machine. It's old and no longer used, but when I saw it on a recent visit to the farm, my heart was flooded with memories of my Grandpa.