What does it mean to be significant?
I spoke at the Significance Luncheon in Louisville on this topic once
It’s designed for seniors, but it works for any age.
As Southeast Christian Church‘s host pointed out: “In the middle of the word significance are letters spelling I CAN.“
I love that observation.
They believe you’re never too old to do things of importance–particularly for the Kingdom of God.
I also don’t believe you’re ever too young to do significant things for the Kingdom of God.
Using events from Biddy Chambers’ and Lettie Cowman’s lives, I explained how.
How to be significant in someone’s life
Let me count the ways both Biddy Chambers and Lettie Cowman changed people’s lives!
Not everyone will write a ground-breaking devotional that is still read a century later.
(Nor should we. As King Solomon commented, “Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.”Ecclesiastes 12:12.)
But there are simple ways to make a difference.
Here are a handful of suggestions for any age.
- Cook a meal
- Knit a scarf
- Help in a church setting
- Shelve books at the library
- Say hello to strangers
- Keep a smile on your face.
- Open doors for others.
- Let agitated folks go ahead of you in line.
Tailgaters upset me until one day the thought came (is that you, Holy Spirit?), “Maybe they’re in a hurry because someone is sick?”
I pulled over when it was safe and let them go by.
I do it all the time, now. (Though, there was that time the agitated driver zipped past, sped around a curve and drove off a cliff . . .)*
Biddy Chambers’ significant ministries
Okay, she compiled and published all of Oswald Chambers’ books — especially My Utmost for His Highest.
But that wasn’t her whole life.
(Wheaton Archives)
She practiced what I called “the ministry of Interruption.”
Whenever someone came to her door, she dropped whatever she was doing (usually typing) and invited them in. She’d make tea and listen while they poured out their hearts.
Her usual response when the petitioners ended their stories?
“We give all this to you, Lord. Amen.”
She also held her ministry (making of books) lightly. Like her husband, she believed that when a ministry ended, it needed to end.
Scurrying around trying to raise money to keep a ministry going at the beginning was a bad idea. (Which is why she and Oswald turned down endowments for their Bible Training College.)
How was Lettie Cowman’s personal life significant?
Lettie founded an international missionary organization and kept it running through the Depression and WWII, not to mention the Every Creature Campaign.
But Lettie’s personal interests in others affected many people.
Madam Chiang Kai Shek. (OMS)
Like her friend Biddy, Lettie took time to enjoy tea with people all over the world.
When things were worrisome (Shanghai during the Civil War), she sat at a piano playing hymns and singing.
It greatly encouraged the missionaries living there.
She loved visiting OMS missionaries around the world and usually brought gifts for the hardworking missionary women. Lettie liked to bring fabric and encouraging words, as well as a listening ear, to best understand the women’s hearts.
She loved them like a mother.
Similar ways Biddy and Lettie ministered
Both women gave away the books they produced. Lettie carried copies of Streams in the Desert on all her trips and handed them off to anyone interested.
Biddy refused to take any pay for producing her husband’s books (starting immediately after his death). She lived in poverty to ensure anyone who needed My Utmost for His Highest could have a copy. She gave them away.
Both women poured the royalties from their devotionals back into ministry.
They both knew how to listen to a need, pray, and then wait for God’s direction.
Glory came from their listening skills
They wrote many letters, paid attention to the needs of those around them, and listened–over and over again.
We can all benefit from their examples — and by taking significant actions for those around us.
No matter how old or young we are.
Here’s a fuller list.
Please–feel free to add other ideas in the comments.
Tweetables
Simple ways to be significant in someone’s life. Click to Tweet
How Lettie Cowman and Biddy Chambers treated friends with significance. Click to Tweet
*Not a high cliff–that was two bends further on. He ended up in a cow pasture, about 10 feet below the road. Nothing hurt except his pride.
Thank you for this post Michelle. I am sitting here at home feeling utterly insignificant but this reminded me that I do many of these things as well as pour love into my family and especially my granddaughter, and that is God’s will for me right now. I think I will go and read Mrs Oswald Chambers again. I found much in your book about Biddy to spur me on. As I sit here and type, the fragrance form very-early blooming narcissi in a vase is wafting across to me from the kitchen bench. Isn’t God good to us? Blessings be upon you, Cate.
Amen to that, Cate! Enjoy another visit to Chambersland. 🙂
In the exciting department–I got to run my hands along OC’s desk, now being cherished at God’s Bible School, in their Oswald Chambers room!
Curious to think of how many wise thoughts ran through his pen while sitting at that desk.
Blessings