One of my favorite quotes is:

What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments but what is woven into the lives of others.

—Pericles

Sometimes when I look back over my life, I don’t think that I have accomplished anything. After all, I’m not famous and I haven’t done anything to change the world–not yet, anyway.

It helps to remember that the little things I have done through the years can have an impact on others as well. Every time I hugged one of my children or grandchildren, I was weaving love into their lives. When I helped a music student learn how to play a piano piece that had frustrated them to no end, I was weaving encouragement and accomplishment into their lives. When I said a kind word to a cashier or person I passed on the street, who knows how it affected them? Maybe it was the only kind word they heard that day.

Every day weave little bits of love and encouragement into the lives of people in your life. You never know how it may change them for the better or encourage them to go on when they want to give up. Helping individuals is just as important as saving the world because when you help individuals you are saving the world.