Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize.
You and I, and most of the people we know, won’t win a Nobel Prize. But every choice we make impacts others, often in ways we never see.
Jon started walking a few years ago. Then running. Last week he ran a marathon.
Rustin and Dustin are wounded warriors who met in rehab. Dustin rides a recumbent trike, Rustin discovered hancycling. They began riding together to banish the demons of injury and depression. Last month they rode nearly 600 miles to help a family struggling with loss.
Phil and Jeff are close friends who met on the FREEDOM TOUR. The discovered a shared love of cycling. Last week they rode the TOUR OF THE MOON.
These folks understand that life isn’t about the big events we get all dressed up for, the marathons and fundraisers and bike tours. Those are just markers. It’s about the training, the friendships, the people they touch along the path. It’s about the simple, day-to-day choices that impact those around them.
If you asked President Santos, I’ll bet he’d say the Peace Prize is simply a marker on a 50-year journey. I’ll bet he’d point to the work and the people and the sacrifices along the way. All of that was training and preparation for a peace process that isn’t finished. Of course he wants a final resolution, but I’ll bet he celebrates the growth and resilience and hope of individuals and communities.
You and I are tempted each day to believe that our choices don’t matter because we’re not running marathons or doing big-deal bike rides or winning the Nobel Prize. But we’re all training, we’re all preparing for something. Doesn’t matter if it’s a monumental event.
What matters is who you’ll touch as you go, who will have a bit more hope because of you.
Maybe you’ll get to see some of that impact. But mostly those ripples will head off into the mist.
Every day, every choice is an opportunity to move someone else forward.