Does Your Life Matter?

It’s a confronting question. One we often ask silently in our harder moments, usually when life feels heavy, lonely, or unseen.

But here’s something worth remembering: life doesn’t only matter in big, loud, headline-worthy ways. Most of the impact we make happens quietly. Like a stone dropped into water, the ripples spread far beyond where it lands — often long after we’ve walked away.

A smile offered to a stranger. A simple “hello.” A kind word when someone is struggling. These moments seem small, almost insignificant, yet they can change the direction of someone else’s day — or even their life. You may never know the ripple you created, and that doesn’t make it any less real.

The same is true for our struggles. The quiet battles no one sees. The moments when getting through the day takes everything you have. Those seasons don’t define your worth, but they may be shaping your depth, your empathy, and your ability to understand others in ways that only lived experience can teach.

Some of the darkest moments in life don’t end the story — they redirect it. They soften us. Strengthen us. Prepare us to be exactly who someone else might need, even if we can’t see it yet.

Your presence matters. Not because you have all the answers, but because you’re here. Because you show up. Because you care.

So perhaps the better questions to ask aren’t about whether your life matters — but how.

Questions to reflect on:

·       Who in your world might need nothing more from you right now than your presence?

·       How might the challenges you’re facing be shaping the person you’re becoming?

·       What small act of kindness could you offer today, even if no one notices?

Because ripples don’t need permission to travel.

And neither does your life.

“Even when you can’t see the ripples, your life is still moving the water.”

~Carol Cooke AM PLY