If everyday I live life knowing that at the end of the day I can smile at myself in the mirror instead of question my intentions- I think I'll have had an impact.  I used to think that life was about what I got out of it.  I based the value of my life on the value that each experience was to ME.

Clearly that nariasisitc attitude was flawed, but at the time I thought that my feelings were the gauge in which MY LIFE was measured. This sounds like I didn't take into consideration other peoples feelings- I ABSOLUTELY did- but if they hurt my feelings or they broke my heart- my experience was bad- I felt bad- and therefore I wasn't getting what I wanted out of it.  What if LIFE isn't about your feelings at all?  What if it's about your impact on others?  What if your feelings are only as good as the mark you leave on the world?  

I've thought about this a lot lately. In my late teens and twenty's I really got my feeling hurt a lot.  My heart was broken a few times (which at the time you think is the worst pain you will ever feel- unfortunately it's not), a friendship may have hurt my feelings etc.. You get the picture.  I went through life feeling hurt and heartbroken- not angry- just melancholy about a lost relationship.  The problem with that is that I was exactly where I was supposed to be- on the exact path- and that attitude was so me focused that I didn't realize that it didn't matter if this relationship or that relationship hurt me- I (hopefully) had an impact on their future life.  (I mean seriously who can forget this hot mess- I joke.)

What I'm saying is that if we live our life trying to have an impact on others-not focusing on how people make us FEEL but rather WHO THEY ARE- we will have laid our mark on this world.  Once you take the ME out of actions and reactions and behave as you would want to be treated- you touch lives.  You SEE people right where they are- instead of where you want them to be.  You also show others how to live by example, not out of your own resentment.  Life is so short and the older me thinks that if I go through my day thinking about how I can serve others (instead of what I get from them-how they make ME feel) I will be true to who I want be- who I was created to be.  The older me KNOWS that prayer changes my heart- it may not change people- but it changes my view on people based on my hearts desire to love HIM.  When I close my eyes for the last time I pray that I have loved deeply- but also selflessly.  If I was created to give my creator GLORY- then my lungs need to breathe life into HIS people (all people).  My hope is that my impact is about the imprint I've had on others based on my purpose for living.  My dream is to serve others based on my purpose.  My story will be a messy tale about how a maturing (YES I'M GETTING OLD) woman looked in the mirror at the end of the day- always expecting to see that smile.  What do you want your impact to be?

YOUR LIFE HAS PURPOSE.  YOUR STORY IS IMPORTANT.  YOUR DREAMS COUNT.  YOUR LIFE MATTERS.  YOU WERE BORN TO MAKE AN IMPACT.  

Author Unknown