I was eleven years old when Grandma Moses died.

“Who”, you might ask?

Grandma Moses. Like my grandmother who, fortunately for ME is STILL living (she turned 102 this past October 30th), Grandma Moses, was a hard working farmer’s wife who raised 5 children. (My grandma only raised 4 of her own, but had 41 foster children during those child-raising years, too – not all at once, mind you).

One may think that’s not so special, and you’re entitled to your opinion but, just like me, this little ‘ol gal (whose real name was Anna Mary Robertson Moses) wanted to make a difference in the world. UNLIKE me (thus far at my advanced age of 58), she managed to become one of America’s most celebrated primitive folk artists of the 20th century…and she didn’t begin until she was 70 years old!, (Guess that means I still have some time to do something outstanding with my life, too.)

I’ve never changed the world with a painting…but Grandma Moses did. In 1949, President Harry S. Truman presented her with the Women’s National Press Club Award for outstanding accomplishment in the arts; in 1955, the news reporter Edward R. Murrow invited her on his TV show, “See It Now”, and people watched their screens as Grandma painted a picture from her house; and at age 100, she illustrated an edition of “The Night Before Christmas” by Clement Moore . Although the book was published after her death, you could say she was very active – adding joy to help make the world a brighter place – right up until the ‘end’ ; she lived to be 101 and in the last year of her life painted TWENTY-FIVE pictures. Just because she chose to. Now THAT’S a LEGACY!

Women throughout history have been powerful ‘world-changers’; determined women of all races, creeds, educational backgrounds and parts of the world. Never under estimate the power of your choices …and we all have ‘em.

What have you (or I, for that matter) done lately that will outlast and/or outlive us?

If you’re a woman reading this blog post, there are more ways … even small ways … that you can make a significance difference in your world and perhaps even CHANGE the world of other people.

There’s a great little FREE e-book I’d love to share with you. It has all sorts of ideas that you’ve probably never thought of – ideas born from the hearts and minds of women for women. I’m pleased to be affiliated with the website that offers this as a free download and hope that you’ll enjoy it as much as I am. It’s entitled “101 Ways Women Can Change the World” and picking out 1 or 2 of these “ways” is an exciting challenge.

You may not be an artist like Grandma Moses, a farmer’s wife raising numerous young ‘uns, or older than 20 … none of that matters.

Grandma Moses said a lot of wise things, among them these two wonderful quotes:

(1) “Paintin’s not important. The important thing is keepin’ busy.”

May we all get ‘busy’ changing our world and the world of others, one small ’something’ at a time.

(2) “Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.”

Choose to make each of your days count – not only for yourself and YOUR family, but for that someone (or two or three) that will bless the day you found them!

~ Allyson