“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”

It’s wonderful, isn’t it? The way people can have such an affect on other people. There are a million different ways we can make a happy difference in the life of someone else. It happens every day. And if there’s one thing that consistently makes a difference in people’s lives, it’s music.

Music is a universal joy-bringer. It comforts, it encourages, it makes us smile and laugh, and sometimes it helps us cry. When it comes to Christian music, it helps us remember where we’re going and Who is taking us there. And behind the music are the writers, the musicians, and finally the singers, who spread the song messages through CDs, radio, TV, and concerts from one city to the next. Through this they are changing lives, and changing the world.

Maybe that’s why I like concerts so much.

At one event recently, while giving change, swiping credit cards, bagging CDs, and answering more questions than I knew existed, I started to notice something. Something I hadn’t paid much attention to before. Something about the faces across the product table as people looked and talked and bought their stuff.

That something was joy.

Everyone was happy. They all had smiles. They were excited. The music made a difference in their lives and that’s why they were there.

Beautiful voices rang through the 2,000 plus-seat music hall that night, filling hearts with hope, faces with smiles, and eyes with tears (the good kind). And after the stage grew dark and silent, another scene unfolded in the lobby. Artists previously under the spotlights now stood surrounded by circles of fans and friends, posing for pictures, signing autographs, giving handshakes and hugs, and chatting for a moment with everyone who wanted to see them.

I realized they were making a difference, right there before my eyes. It was beautiful.

Having been one in the crowd many times myself, I know how much it means to just get a smile, a “thank you” for being there, a snapshot to fondly look at for years to come. It has a wondrous effect on your happy scale, something much needed in this often depressing world.

How incredible to be able to make a difference like that.

An older lady buying a poster glowed enthusiastically as she told me how much her teenage nephew “just loves the group”. She wanted it autographed and when I offered to get it done for her, she was so thrilled and grateful. And in a small way, I felt like part of the difference, too.

That night I took away a deeper sense of how much each of us can make a difference by what we do. By how we act and what we say. It might not be singing to thousands and recording albums and signing autographs, but the numbers you reach isn’t what matters.

What matters is that no matter who you are or what you do, you take whatever you have and make a difference. To make even one person smile, to make their heart lighter and their load a little easier. To remind them that God’s love and forgiveness is real and His promises faithful.

Think about the people who’ve made a difference in your life, sometimes people you didn’t even know. The power God has given us to impact the lives of everyone we meet is truly amazing. Don’t underestimate that.

YOU might just make all the difference in the world.