Parents love to  imagine that their children will do great things one day.  Who knows what’s in store for her? we wonder.  Who knows what education she’ll get, what career she will pursue, what difference she will make for the world?  Will she get married and start a family? Will she  blaze her own adventurous trail? We ask our children questions like “What do you want to do when you grow up?” Life is full of possibilities and the future is exciting!

But a thought for today, friends.  Let’s not be TOO excited for what our children WILL become and what they WILL do someday.  Let’s not be too focused on what change they’ll make in the world someday that we miss that THIS is the moment they’re in.  Today. Right here, right now!

As exciting as “someday” is, how can your child make a difference in the world this very day, even in just the smallest ways, at her age and stage she’s in right now?

Friends, let’s encourage our children, our daughters to be difference-makers today, not just someday when they’re “old enough” or “experienced enough” or “wise enough” or “fully educated”.  Our culture is already propelling them past childhood in so many ways, anxious for them to grow up and “contribute to society”.  But this time in their lives is just as important!

Live a life with your daughter that helps her see she is just as valuable today as she is in the “someday”.  Help her see that she doesn’t have to do huge, heroic acts to make an impact.  She doesn’t have to be her “someday self” to shape the world.   She can do it today with kind smiles, encouraging words, handmade cards, forgiveness, selfless giving, compassionate listening.

Remind her that the world may be big and she may be small, but just like a butterfly in a big garden, she too can make a big difference, “one flower at a time”.  After all, her “someday self” is being shaped by her today.