Let people know they are loved
Even the rich and famous soon learn that true wealth comes from reaching out to people in need.
By Wynonna

By Wynonna Judd Musicians reflect on making a difference: 1st in a series

People want me to be grand, with red hair flying in the wind, being cool, getting on the charts. And when people talk about making a difference, they usually think about grand, sweeping acts of generosity. Well, let's forget all the big stuff. It's the small, simple moments when you connect with other people that matter. I don't think enough people feel that they are loved.

Everywhere I go and everything I do -- whether it's going to a movie or eating at a restaurant or doing something with my children -- it seems I'm somehow brought to a stranger and something profound happens.

Like the other night, I walked out of a movie theater and was drawn to this guy sweeping the concrete out in the parking lot. I just watched him for a moment as I was walking to my car, and something told me: "Go. You need to merge with this guy."

And it turned out that besides being a huge fan of my family, The Judds, he had just been diagnosed with hepatitis C, which my mother, Naomi, has battled for many years. So we ended up praying together in the parking lot. Of course, he thought he was the one getting the big zap of energy from the Wynonna love and the signed picture and all that, but I'm the one who's transformed. It reminded me how precious and fragile life is, so when I go home I don't get so caught up in my program that I forget that somewhere out there someone's suffering.

If we didn't have those moments where we took a second to talk with the guy who delivers the room service -- to grab his hand and say, "Hey, how you doing? How many kids have you got?" -- we would miss an opportunity to receive a blessing. There's a sweetness waiting to happen when you're willing to step outside yourself and jump into somebody else's game.

Don't get me wrong. The big stuff is wonderful -- the Grammys and the awards and the premieres and all that. And when I was 20, honey, it was all about how many Harleys I could buy and how many No. 1 songs I had. But I have found God and inner peace and the greatest joy in those sweet, simple moments where I meet the girl in Aisle 13 of the grocery store whose sister listens to my music while she's taking chemotherapy. Or when I pray with someone I just met at a gas station because he's on his way to have surgery. Or when I talk to someone with AIDS in an airport bathroom or take a moment to find out how the hotel bellman's day is going.

Just to be kind to someone -- that's my Grammy these days. My greatest piece of work is noticing the most unhappy person in the room and letting him know he's loved.

A lot of people don't want to get involved -- it's a scary thing to go next door and find out what their pain is. It's hard. But you've got to get into the action. You can't just write a check.

If we were all beside the stream of life and everyone was dying of thirst, I'm the kind of person who would try to give everyone a glass of water. That's impossible. But all you have to do is go over to that stream and get one glass of water and give it to somebody. And then when they're nurtured and energized, they'll go over to the stream and give a drink to somebody else.

You can't save everyone, but you can create one little ripple of kindness that will go out into the world. If you can touch just one person's life and that person turns around and changes someone else's life, then that's God. That's fellowship. And that's real.

Wynonna will take time out from her current tour to do a Make A Difference Day project to help children. She's now writing, producing and recording her sixth solo studio album, a mix of country, adult contemporary and R&B due in 2002.

Coming in the series: Bow Wow, Steven Tyler, Vince Gill, Diana Krall and more!