Did you know that sea sponges move at a rate of 1/5 an inch per year. That means to our normal human eyes it basically looks like they are immobile. It wasn’t until watching sped-up timelapse videos that scientists were able to discover what sponges actually do.

Although the work of a sponge is unnoticeable to the human eye, it is definitely not unimportant. They provide food and shelter for smaller fish that they wouldn’t be able to get elsewhere, and by filtering water they help produce better water quality in their habitats.

It made me think about myself, and likely, many of you. Don’t we all just want to make a difference? A big noticeable difference? Isn’t that the way to know we’re doing good in this world?

And yet, each of us make choices every day that produce results we may never see. Opening the door for a stranger, calling a friend who popped into our mind, actually listening to our children when they talk. My day is filled with small seemingly unnoticeable acts of love and kindness and yet at the end of the day I still feel like I’m doing nothing important.

This often leads to trying to fill my life with more, more, more – hoping one day I’ll have a lot of followers or win a big award and THEN everyone will know (including me) that I’ve really made a difference.

Maybe it’s time we all see ourselves like sea sponges: believing the good we do in the world is making a vital difference whether anyone notices or not.

What could you accomplish in building the life you want if you believed every act of good – big or small – is important? That you didn’t need to do more, but rather, be convicted that what you are already doing is making a difference?

I’m suspicious that viewing our contributions this way will actually lead us to do more and more good, but from a place of already understanding and recognizing our worth rather than trying to find it. I think we’ll be more genuine in the way we help others and certainly more generous with ourselves. And maybe someday we’ll get to watch a time-lapse of our lives and finally see how important even the unnoticeable things were.

If you have an idea to do something good, don’t squash it down thinking it’s small and won’t matter. Just do it! No act of good is unimportant even if it’s unnoticeable – so keep doing good!