You Matter More Than You Think: What a Woman Needs to Know about the Difference She Makes

by Leslie Parrott

Overview

Are you longing to make a difference?

A season of soul-searching walks along Discovery Beach in Seattle revealed a secret far too many women never find. In this heartfelt book, Leslie Parrott reveals a personal message sure to keep you from looking at the pieces of your life as mere fragments scattered to and fro by any impulsive tide. Rather, you will soon see that the random fragments of your life--whether it's doing laundry, dashing to the store, tending to either your kids or a full-time job (or both)--mean something.

The random pieces of your life hold great potential for making a profound difference. With the help of her Band of Sisters, Leslie shows you how to take the improvised moments of your own life and create a worthy composition of more value than you imagined. You're already making a difference, and the more you understand this difference, the bigger that difference will be.

Whether you are married or single, restless or content, wounded or strong, this book, designed for every woman who longs to be more than part of the mainstream, is for you.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780310543770
Publisher:	Zondervan
Publication date:	05/26/2009
Sold by:	HarperCollins Publishing
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	807 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Dr. Leslie Parrott is a marriage and family therapist and codirector with her husband, Dr. Les Parrott, of the Center for Relationship Development at Seattle Pacific University. She is the author of First Drop of Rain and God Made You Nose to Toes, and coauthor with her husband of several bestselling books, including the Gold Medallion Award–winner Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts. Leslie is a columnist for Today’s Christian Woman and has been featured on Oprah, CBS This Morning, CNN, and The View, and in USA Today and the New York Times. Leslie lives in Seattle with her husband and their two sons. Visit LesandLeslie.com

Read an Excerpt

You Matter More Than You Think
Copyright 2006 by Leslie Parrott
This title is also available as a Zondervan audio product.
Visit zondervan.com/audiopages for more information.
Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Parrott, Leslie L., 1964-
You matter more than you think : what a woman needs to know about the
difference she makes / Leslie Parrott.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-0-310-24598-8
ISBN-10: 0-310-24598-2
1. Women --- Religious life. I. Title.
BV4844.P323 2006
248.8' 43 --- dc22
2005033566
This edition printed on acid-free paper.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible:
Today's New International Version. TNIV. Copyright 2002, 2004 by International
Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message. Copyright 1993, 1994,
1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means --- electronic, mechanical, photocopy,
recording, or any other --- except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior
permission of the publisher.
The Paradoxical Commandments are reprinted with permission of Kent M. Keith,
Copyright Kent M. Keith 1968, renewed 2001.
Published in association with Yates and Yates, LLP, Attorneys and Counselors, Suite 1000,
Literary Agent, Orange, CA.
Interior design by Michelle Espinoza
Printed in the United States of America
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We want to hear from you. Please send your comments about this
book to us in care of zondervan.com. Thank you.
one
a narrow path
I took the road less traveled by,
and that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost
Let's clear this up right at the beginning. I'm no Mother Teresa,
and chances are, neither are you. I used to think joining
the Sisters of Charity or some other compassionate group
and devoting my life to the poor and suffering was the only real
way to make a difference. For a time, I bought nearly all my
clothes at secondhand thrift shops and volunteered at a nursing
home and a downtown soup kitchen.
With the little money I had, I gave all I could to worthy
causes. I even spent a night on the streets of the inner city, all
by myself, in an 'urban plunge' to get a glimpse of what it was
like to be homeless.
I was dead set on finding my way on the road less traveled
--- and on making a difference.
'The road less traveled.'
It's a simple phrase of poetry penned by Robert Frost, one of
the most quoted poets of our time. This line of poetry is quoted
often for good reason, and I could not resist its pull. Something
deep inside me still resonates with these words, even after hearing
them time and again. For who, when faced with options,
doesn't want to take the road that makes a difference?
All the difference!
Being a poet myself, it's a phrase I've identified with since I was
a girl --- about the time I began looking up to significant women.
Catherine Booth, the cofounder of the Salvation Army,
became one of my heroes. Like Mother Teresa, she wasn't
consumed by convention and was determined to do whatever
it took to make a difference in her eighteenth-century England
--- even if it was 'not the job of a woman' to do so.
I've always loved her response to an uptight, pious man
who held up his Bible and argued, 'Paul said to the Corinthians
it is a shame for women to speak in the church.'
'Oh yes, so he did,' said Catherine. 'But in the first place
this is not a church, and in the second place, I am not a Corinthian;
besides,' she continued, looking at the man's wife, 'Paul
said in the same epistle that it was good for the unmarried to
remain so.'1
You've got to admire that kind of spunk in a woman. At
least I do.
But I've got to confess, I'm no Catherine Booth either.
In fact, my life these days is ensconced with all the typical
trappings of a modern married woman with two children
living in the mainstream. These days, you're far more likely
to find me browsing at Baby Gap for my toddler than searching
the racks of a thrift store. And you're more likely to find
me sipping a latte at Starbucks than feeding the homeless with
soup at a shelter. Maybe the same is true for you, whatever
your situation. You long to make a difference but feel you don't
measure up to many other women.
Somewhere between the idealism of my college years and
the pragmatism of real life, I've wondered if I've forsaken the
road less traveled altogether. After all, how can I make a difference
when some days I can't even find my keys?
We all have those days where things go wrong.
Like the day I was on my way to the grocery store when I
glanced in the rearview mirror and saw that my five-year-old
had fallen fast asleep.
My mind sifted through the possibilities . . .
I could wake John up when we get to the grocery store . . . but
then he' ll be really crabby, and once he's awake, he won't go back
to sleep.
Or I could just turn around, take him home, and tuck him
into bed since Les is working there. I could grocery shop just that
much faster.
I knew Les was hard at work on a deadline, but it was more
likely that John would sleep at home than in the grocery cart.
So I returned home, carried John into the house, tucked him
into bed, and alerted Les to the fact that he'd be in charge of
our little one for a while.
I sped back to the car with the kind of urgency that only a
mom trying to fit in multiple tasks during a child's naptime can
entirely identify with. Jumping into the driver's seat, I shifted
the car into reverse, backed out of the garage . . . and promptly
ripped the door off the car.
The door I'd forgotten to close when I'd carried John into
the house.
The ripping and tearing sound sent Les bolting out of his
study, which is directly above the garage.

Table of Contents

contents acknowledgments 9 prelude 11 a narrow path 15 discovery beach 25 the grinding stone 33 my head is in the dirt 45 squashed cabbage leaves 57 dream venti 67 interlude 83 sea glass 85 band of sisters 93 star and starfish 103 web of connection 115 playing games 127 martha clay 137 0310245982_youmater.indd 7 2/28/06 9:40:06 AM interlude 145 human touch 147 ultimate good 155 whisper test 163 too late? 173 anyway 183 interlude 197 compassionate witnesses 199 only seeds 211 barking pig 219 a rare road 229 postlude 235 notes 237