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Have you ever found yourself wondering just how much influence you, as a blogger, really have? I mean sure, we all have our circles of influence, big or small, but just how far does that circle really extend? It’s something I imagine most bloggers probably wonder about, especially when first getting started. (I know I did!)

Years ago, while on an 8-hour-long night flight from Miami to San Paolo, Brazil, I remember waking up at 2 a.m., somewhere along the way, and wondering exactly where we were. A flight attendant just happened to be passing by at that moment, so I asked.

“Oh, we’re over the Amazon basin at about 45,000 feet,” she cheerfully replied. (You have to admire how flight attendants can stay cheerful at 2 a.m.!) “We still have a long way to go, so I suggest you try to sleep the rest of the way,” she added helpfully.

I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced total darkness. We’re talking really dark, “bottom of a cave in the deepest part of the earth” darkness. It’s quite an experience, let me tell you! In spite of the fact that you know there is no light, you soon find yourself straining to see something, anything that can provide a reference point. For some people the oppressiveness is so powerful, it can actually feel like a physical weight.

So maybe you’ll understand when I tell you that as I looked out the window, there was nothing to see. I mean, literally nothing! No cities, no towns; the sky was so dark the horizon was not even visible. It was as if the windows had been painted black.

I stared out the windows, searching for something, anything, that would tell me there was a world out there. My eyes began to strain, searching for a reference point. Then – in the distance below, I saw the most beautiful sight.

A light. One single light.

As the plane slowly moved closer, just the sight of a reference point out there was enough to somehow comfort me. My eyes fastened on that light as if it were the only thing that mattered. I didn’t care what it was for; being able to watch as it passed by was enough.

But then I began to wonder about that light, and what it represented. In fact, I did more than wonder, I began to be amazed. At 45,000 feet, plus perhaps the same distance away horizontally, that meant the distance to that light was about – let’s see, divide by 37, carry the 8, (excuse me, I have to take off my shoes for this one) – that’s about 12 miles (19 km) away!

I was wonderstruck by the fact that one single light could be visible from such a distance!

So I ask you: Did whoever put the light there intend it to be visible from 12 miles away? Did they go to the Amazonian Hardware Store and say to the proprietor, “Good day to you sir; I’d like a lamp so powerful that airliners can see it 12 miles away!”

Or did they only intend to light up their own little corner of the world?

Sometimes it strikes me nearly speechless (luckily I don’t have to talk to type!) how far a few typewritten words can travel these days, thanks to tools like the internet and blogging. I mean, I discovered a blog the other day written by some guy in Iceland. Iceland! Did he decide one day, “You know, I’m going to reach the world”? Or did he just start writing, expressing himself, and being himself in a way that others could see and appreciate? Then one day, I passed by and saw his light, stopped by for a bit, and grew.

Now if you’re a new blogger, you will probably have said to yourself (at least, oh, a thousand times by now), “Ok, I’m blogging. But is anyone out there reading it?” The fact is, as a blogger, you have a much farther reach than you may ever have thought possible.

So whether an old hand or a beginner, may I just offer you this one little bit of encouragement:

You never know how far your light will shine. Or who, one night, might be flying in darkness and find they are in need of a reference point. Don’t be afraid to turn on the switch. Don’t worry about how much wattage you may or may not have. Just be yourself and let your light shine. They’ll come.

You can be that light in the darkness.

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