What Will Your Influence Be During The Seasons of Life?

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day and another awesome week coming to a close for you. It is amazing to me how each day; each week just continues to fly by.

I want to share two thoughts/ideas with you on this beautiful August morning.

1. As a husband, as a Dad I want the very best for my Beautiful Bride and my 3 Tender Warriors whom I have been given the awesome, incredible responsibility – inescapable responsibility - of leading, guiding & protecting. I don’t want them to experience hurt, pain, sorrow or disappointment. I want all their hopes, goals and dreams to come true. I want them to live life every single day to the fullest with great joy, happiness and peace. If you are a husband, wife, Mom, Dad, if you have anyone in this world that means, well, the world to you, you know what I mean.

Life doesn’t happen that way though does it? AND, it is often – all the time maybe – in the trials, tribulations & storms of life that we grow the most. Ironic isn’t it; we spend most of our time trying to avoid – desperately so – the very things that will help us grow, shape our character, prepare us for our greater purpose, etc.

As I was thinking about all this, the following scripture came to mind from Ecclesiastes 3:

¹ There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

Does this make you sad, discouraged maybe? I truly hope not Friend. You see, this is life. We live in a fallen, broken, hurting world. As hard as we try – and most of us try awfully hard – life will happen to us. This leads me to my second point.

2. What will your influence be…? Who or what are you going to allow to influence your life? Whoever or whatever it is will determine how you respond, how you go through each season as it comes…and again, the seasons ARE coming. Where do you place your hope? Where do you find your peace? Where do you find the strength to go on? See, these are all choices that we will make – whether intentionally or unintentionally – and whatever choice we make will bring with it a corresponding set of consequences. Again, who or what are you allowing to influence your life? Someone or something is…if you don’t like the way that is working out for you it might be time to consider a change. I can’t tell you what should choose, I can only testify to what I have found.

The other part of this whole “What will your influence be…?” thing is this; what will your influence be in the life of others…as they deal with birth, death, as they plant, as they uproot, as they weep, as they laugh? There is absolutely no doubt about it Friend; you are going to influence them. The only thing to determine, that you will determine, is whether this influence is positive or negative. And please don’t miss this critically important piece; whoever or whatever you are allowing to influence your life will impact/affect the influence you will have in the lives of others. Do you remember the quote that I shared with you before from Ken Whitten which captured it perfectly? “What’s in the well always comes up in the bucket.” That is you and that is me Friends…we can’t escape it.

And my spirit is screaming at me to share this with you; what will your influence be in the life of your spouse? Your son? Your daughter? Your best friend? The guy that you walk by every day on the way to the office? All of them are being influenced by someone or something…is it you? Just like you and me they are going through a season; are you having a positive influence in their life during this season? What do they see in you, in me, as we go through our seasons? It is easy to show them joy, happiness & peace when we are going through a season of birth, planting, healing, dancing, etc. But more importantly, what do they see when we go through a season of death, weeping or scattered stones? Do we still return to our source, boldly, confidently, knowing that this season to shall pass and there will again be prosperity? That in the midst of any storm there is hope, there is life, that there is a plan that we walk in faith…always?

From the depths of my heart I hope these questions challenge you as much as they have challenged me typing them. The bible makes it very clear that there will be struggles, trials & tribulations…not if but when. If you are a God believing, bible believing – and more importantly living – person, you also know that God has overcome the world, that victory is assured, that through any storm, trial or tribulation God is with you. Again, I am not here to tell you what to believe or how to live. I am simply here to profess what I believe and as your friend, regardless of your belief system, to ask you “What will your influence be?”

Please let me know if there is ever anything I can do for you or your families. I will always be willing, and truly consider it an honor, to help you any way I can.

Have a great day – that is a choice you know…to make it a great day, have a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.

Kev