Last night, I asked my husband to pray that today would be a productive day. I asked him to pray that I would manage my time well and take initiative because since I work from home I don’t have a schedule and that makes it so easy to waste the day away.

Now I’m sitting at my computer chatting with a new friend on Facebook and posting pictures of cupcakes in my networking groups to say thank you to the soon-to-be-mom I bought them from. I’m texting one of my new business team members not about our business but about her children auditioning for a modeling contract. It’s 2:30 in the afternoon and I have done nothing productive. I did feed myself, which doesn’t always happen, so I’m pretty proud of that. Still, I’ve wasted the rest of the my day–not a single income producing activity has been completed.

But wait. I’ve spent my day building relationships and encouraging others. I haven’t wasted my day at all.

My business is all about building relationships. That’s how I meet people; that’s how I build my team–my goal isn’t to send out 50 invites to my cold market and hope 5 accept and buy my product because I believe the people are more important than my income. I never want anyone to feel like a sales prospect. That being said, maybe one day the ladies I have been talking to today will join my team. Maybe not. I’m building relationships with them and that’s the way I would want to start anyway.

That’s irrelevant though. I didn’t start talking to them because I had a business goal in mind at all. Without a doubt, my business has taught me to be more intentional about the way I talk to people to start building relationships but that’s not why I do it.

In a few hours, my husband is going to walk through the door and ask me how my day went. I’m not going to have much to tell him because I didn’t check anything important off my to do list, I didn’t add anyone to my team, I didn’t sell any essential oils, I didn’t start any new conversations about my product.

All I did was love on other moms and wives. It doesn’t feel like a productive day at all, but ultimately it was the most important thing I could do with my time.

My seventh grade English teacher once told our class that every morning he prays that God will allow him to bless one person. Just one. Yesterday we watched Hacksaw Ridge, and if you’ve never seen it, it’s absolutely amazing–probably the definition of epic. The movie is the true story of a military medic during WWII who went to war without a weapon and after the Americans pulled out of the battle for the night, he stayed to save the wounded left behind. Throughout the night, while he is exhausted and broken, he prays over and over again, “Just one more, God. Just one more.”

He saved 75 lives because God gave him that one more again and again and again. 

If God uses us to bless just one life every day, He can bring immeasurable change. 

I might not have done anything to generate income today, and I can’t spend all day every day like this or my business would never grow. We all have responsibilities and to do lists; they’re important and we can’t just sweep them under the sofa for the sake of “building relationships”. I get it–as the mom boss, I want my house to look perfect and dinner to be made when my husband gets home and I want the big paycheck so we can travel and bless others financially, and being social doesn’t usually fit into the minimal hours I have in my day. However, the times I give up “productivity” to focus on other people, I am not wasting my time.

I spent my day today encouraging wives who work their own small businesses and getting to know new friends and building relationships and they’re just little blessings, but to someone who’s day is lonely and empty, that little blessing can mean the world. We can’t all be the one who finds the cure to cancer and changes the world. We can’t all donate hundreds of dollars to helping third world countries gain access clean water.

But every single one of us can bless one person every day.

If your high school friend who you haven’t talked to in years posts an adorable picture of her baby, why don’t you tell her how precious it is? When another mom from church gets a cute hair cut, tell her you love it. Pay for the service member behind you’s drink at Starbucks. Ask someone how you can pray for them and then do it. Write a sweet thank you note to your kid’s teacher just because you can. You don’t have to bless someone in a huge way for it be meaningful, but if you are intentional about finding just one person a day to be a light to, you can be the change.

It’s a small thing but it’s a huge thing. Who have you been a blessing to today?