I came across a very interesting person recently. Can’t remember his name … just his story. He was a writer. A good writer. Ambitious. Wrote for years … (kinda like me). I related to him. Big ideas. “I’ll change the world with my writings!” He got great responses to his writings. “But I can’t break through. My audience is just too small. I’m falling short. Even failing.”Then there was “the article.” A brilliant piece about the current political scene, How God was watching. God was doing wondrous things. Amidst the chaos. It was published in a less well known magazine.

He got a call one day. “Hi, I’m Oprah Winfrey.” Surely an imposter. Turns out … NOT! It was Oprah! “I was fascinated by your recent article. Would you be willing to come to CA and be my guest interviewee on a podcast of mine?” He was stunned! “Of course!” He did. The interview was at first intimidating. But Oprah had an incredible ability to reach out calmly, instilling confidence in him instantly. When it ended, he asked Oprah how she reached such a huge audience … changed so many lives. Did so many big things.

Here’s what Oprah told him. “You know, I used to think a huge audience on TV, a speech in front of thousands is my calling. Certainly my early days as a rather homely daughter of a sharecropper defined my life as very “small.” Never foreshadowed what my life would become. That’s to say if I could get through high school, my life would be complete. But I was blessed at my young age to be the recipient of a blessed … small gesture.

One day my 5th grade school teacher had our class in assembly on stage. She asked “the beautiful gal in the front row to step forward.” Surely she wasn’t referring to me. She was! Oh my god, she was. “the beautiful gal in the front row.” Someone thinks I’m beautiful! … Homely no more,” I thought. Something changed in me. In an instant.”“Such a small gesture that changed me … forever. Five seconds, three words changed my life. “Struck by this … all of a sudden, our writer’s perspective on all his grand dreams and desires? They came rushing to him hearing what Oprah had told him. One small gesture had changed her life. That teacher in five seconds … not knowing the impact of what she had done. Changed a life.

All those far reaching visions of his. Reaching huge audiences. Feeding his ego? Suddenly they deflated like a popped balloon. Maybe the simple gesture of helping a lady across a street. Taking time to listen to a young twenty year old girl with a career question. Small gestures have huge impact. In ways we will never know. Just like Oprah’s teacher.

A totally new reality emerged for our aspiring writer.

I moved from Philadelphia to CT in 1981. I was sent there to resurrect a failing business. Two guys I worked with in Philadelphia stopped by and gave me a small cellophane pouch. In it was one minute mustard seed. “We want you to think of you new venture as a series of many small gestures. Like this mustard seed. Step by step. One after another.” I remembered the Lord citing that the mustard seed can be the spark that can ignite great things. My friends’ small gesture changed me in ways they will never know. CT was a success. I still have that pouch. Went on to Atlanta. Built another place. Mustard seed on board. The young writer and I had both learned a critical lesson. Small gestures can change lives. Oprah’s teacher never knew the impact she had on that “beautiful” little girl that day. Oprah’s message to her podcast guest had changed him in ways … she may never know. Just as that mustard seed from my friends changed me.

My writer friend? … he went on to win a Pulitzer Prize. Not by trying to write an epic. But simply writing what was on his heart simply each and every day. And again that mustard seed? … thank you Harry and John. Small gestures … we really don’t need to think grand. All life’s opportunities, all those small gestures make grand differences in ways you will never know.