Of our greatest acts we are ignorant. You were not aware that you saved my life. – Emily Dickinson to Thomas Wentworth Higginson
When you feel uncertain that your work is reaching anyone, remember Dickinson. You never know which of your acts, great or small, will save a life. You only know that you must do what you have been called to do.
Share your heart. Help the helpless. Offer your skills and talents. Restore the brokenhearted. Bind up wounds and feed the hungry. Write the words. Give away everything you know. You may be offering hope to someone without even realizing it. You may be saving a life.
Then again, the life you’re saving may be your own. In opening your heart and doing your work, something you sometimes consider a pittance, you find clarity. Your heart may hurt, but you at least know what you hold to be true. You know what you think and feel.
You can continue forward with a more steadfast spirit. You can be strong even when you feel as though you’re breaking apart. You can trust that your words are reaching someone, even if that someone is only yourself.
Image: Caleb Roenigk (Creative Commons)