Lent: Keep it simple

Personal Influence.

Proverbs 11:25-27 A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. People curse the one who hoards grain, but they pray God’s blessing on the one who is willing to sell. Whoever seeks good finds favour, but evil comes to one who searches for it.

Every human life is a force in this World. On every side our influence pours out perpetually. If our lives are true and good, this influence is a blessing to other lives. Let us never set loose any influence for ill, hate or harm. When we think of our personal influence, unconscious, perpetual, pervading, and immortal, what overarching theme does our day to day living portray. How can we control this outflow from our lives that it shall always be blessing to others? It surely means being  faithful in all duties, in all obligations and responsibilities, in all obediences, in actions; word, and disposition, throughout each day, particularly those things that influences another.

Think of the all the influencers in your life. Stirring in the background of our minds are the influences of other people that affect us without our knowledge or recognition. For example when researchers showed individuals a picture of a library and instructed them to go there after the experiment, participants began to speak more softly, without being aware of why. Similarly, when primed to be rude, individuals interrupted a speaker, while those primed to be polite did not.

An African proverb puts it this way, ‘If you think you’re too small to make a difference, you haven’t spent the night with a mosquito.’ The mosquito makes a difference in an annoying way, but the principle is the same. One person can stop a great injustice. One person can be a voice for truth. One person’s kindness can save a life. Each person matters.

Prayer

Help us, Lord, never to become inward looking or self-indulgent. May everything we do as individuals and as a community be outward focused in order to bring blessing to the world. Lord, help me and help our community to make the most of every opportunity that you have given us. Help us to revere you and keep your commandments. Help us to use our influence for good and not for evil. Help us to make the most of every opportunity that you have put before us. Amen