One of life’s greatest mysteries is that too often we never really know just how we touched someone else’s life. This is also one of life’s greatest frustrations. We try to be good people. We give of our time, our talents, and our finances to areas where we want to try and make a difference. And deep down, we know we do. We just don’t always get to see first hand, the fruits of our labors. And that’s not why we do what we do, but personal confirmation that somebody may be better off because of our efforts sure is encouraging.

That’s why for today’s blog, I wanted to write about a recent encounter where I actually got to see a positive impact made. And as much as I’d like to take credit for it, it was completely unintentional. A gesture that meant nothing to me meant the world to someone else. Allow me to explain. I was out golfing with a good buddy of mine, Pat Carper. If you’re one of the three fans that has been following my blog from the beginning, you’ll remember Pat. He pops up from time to time and is one of my more frequent partners in crime. His most recent mention came when he dressed up like Robin Hood for a high school skit…but I digress.

Pat and I went golfing one day last month and as always, had a blast. I’m not quite on Pat’s (or anyone else’s) skill level when it comes to golf, but he doesn’t mind and we always have fun just getting out. The golf course wasn’t especially busy that day, so we knew we could take our time and not worry about holding up anyone behind us. We spent a little extra time looking for all the balls I smacked out of bounds and hung out on tee boxes reminiscing about the good old days, you know…when we used to be popular.

I guess we told one too many ‘remember when’ stories somewhere along the way because lo and behold, another twosome of golfers appeared behind us. We were actually holding someone up. Pat and I were having too good of a time to be hurried at this point, so we waved at the twosome and gave them the universal ‘play through’ motion. We pulled our golf cart to the side of the fairway and let these two gentlemen play the hole and move ahead of us. They thanked us for letting them pass and made a little small talk. It turned out that the duo was a father-in-law and son-in-law team. They former appeared to be in his upper 70s and the latter in his lower 50s.

They finished the hole and drove out of sight while Pat and I got back to embellishing old stories. About an hour later, we finished our round and went to turn in our golf cart. It was there that we ran back into the son-in-law. He thanked us again for letting them play through. We said it was no big deal. That is when he corrected us. “It was a very big deal, men,” he said. “My father-in-law is getting up there in age and I don’t know how many more times he’s going to be able to make it out to a course and play 18 holes. We both realize that. But one thing he has always joked about since we’ve been golfing together is this: Just one time before he hangs it up, he wants to play so well that another group of golfers has to let him play through. He always joked about this, because he figured it would never happen. Since you waved us past you, it’s all he’s been talking about. In fact, he’s already called my wife to tell her the story. Thank you again. You have no idea how happy you’ve made someone today.” Then he shook both our hands and drove away.

A gesture that we thought nothing of meant the world to someone else. Life’s funny like that. Does a simple smile help to change someone else’s outlook on the day? Does the lack of one have the opposite effect? Whatever we choose to do or choose not to do, can influence those around us. Most of us make concerted efforts to be good people. We are diligent in trying to live a life of positive influence. But sometimes we get so caught up in trying to be a person of impact that we forget about the simple gestures in life. A smile, a wave, handshake, or even eye contact can have more of an effect on another life than we can ever imagine.

Live an intentional life. Let those intentions be known by your major life decisions. And let them be known by your day-to-day mundane actions as well. Intentionally or not, we impact others every day. Purposefully or accidentally, our influence is felt. A speaker once told me that the two easiest jobs in life are to cause people to be in a good mood and to cause people to be in a foul mood. We humans are pretty fragile, whether we want to admit it or not. It doesn’t take much to sway the way we feel…about others or ourselves. Do something today, no matter how seemingly insignificant, to make someone feel better about him or herself and I promise you, you’ll feel better about yourself too.