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Written by Christa Miller
What kind of influence do you want to be? Whether we think about it or not, whether we like it or not, what we do and say has a lasting impact on others. Our example counts.
When I was in third grade, I had an amazing teacher. She was so kind and caring. I finished third grade knowing that I wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to grow up and be just like her. I hoped that I could someday have the same type of positive impact on others that she had on me.
My teacher later transferred grades, and I was blessed to have her again in sixth grade. I was beyond ecstatic. When I left school that year, I told her that one day I would be back to teach with her.
Although I am not living in the same area to be able to teach with her, I did go on to become a teacher. Even now I think about her and try to pinpoint what it was that she did to make school so special. Simply put, she cared. She truly cared about each of us, and that was reflected in everything that she did.
I was recently blessed to come back into contact with her, and that got me thinking about just how much of an influence she had on my life. She will always have a special place in my heart. She played a huge part in shaping me into who I have become, all because she cared.
Negative influences can hurt us
Although my teacher was a wonderful influence and had a very positive impact on my life, other people have been just the opposite.
We have all been negatively influenced at some point in our lives. It may be someone at work who constantly puts us down with insulting remarks, someone who just makes us feel like an outsider, or someone whose ungodly actions cause us to lower our own personal standards.
Influences are everywhere
The littlest things that people say and do in everyday life can have an impact on us. Influences can come from store clerks or restaurant servers, people at work or neighbors, family members or total strangers.
Our interactions with others affect our moods, but sometimes the influence goes way beyond just an immediate change in attitude. For example, I find it very difficult to be around negative people. It is certainly hard to remain positive when everyone around you is negative. That negative mood can turn into a negative frame of mind, and then you are headed down a dangerous path, all because we allowed others to influence us in the wrong ways.
What influence do we have on others?
So, what kind of influence do you want to be on others? It is easy for us to reflect back on people who have influenced us, but do we take time to think about the kind of influence we are having on others?
People see and hear everything we do and say. What are we saying? What are we doing? Will people look back at us and remember us as someone who inspired them to live their lives to a higher standard? We need to make a conscious effort to walk in a godly way in everything that we do. We cannot allow ourselves to slip, because our example not only impacts us, it also influences those around us.
As I am teaching my second graders, I try to be at the top of my game. I realize that some of their home lives are not the greatest. They do not all have loving environments to go home to. So, while I have them in my care, I hope that they feel cared for and safe. It would be a great honor to be a positive influence in their lives.
Walk as Jesus Christ did
It is not always easy to be positive and encouraging all the time. Life wears at us and brings us down, but we have to stand tall against the pressures and cares of this world. Remain positive and ask God to help strengthen your faith.
We have the responsibility to go into the world and preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God. What better way to do that than by living our lives as an example of God’s way of life? As the saying goes, “actions speak louder than words.” What will our actions say to others?
Christa Miller attends the Wheeling, West Virginia, congregation of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association. She is a wife and mother and was inspired to become a teacher by one of her own teachers.
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