Your Bucket

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day and an awesome week is coming to a close for you.

Sorry, you are stuck with me this week! Wasn't my Beautiful Bride something?!?! Holy Smokes! I am so proud of her for following the conviction of her spirit and writing when she felt compelled to do so. She looked at me last week and said, "I am writing Happy Friday." She gave me that look that made it perfectly clear that this was not a question...it was a statement. I said, "yes ma'am." I am not as dumb as I look! (For all of my "friends", I appreciate you keeping your comments to yourselves!)

Most weeks we focus on what our influence will be in the lives of others. This week I would like to share briefly about a more important influence...what you, what I, are allowing to influence our lives. This is absolutely critical as what we choose (yes, it is a choice!) to allow to influence our lives personally will influence what our influence will be in the lives of others. As Ken Whitten, Pastor at Idlewild Baptist in Florida, once said, "What's in the well always comes up in the bucket."

"I start the day, the war begins...", lyrics from the song East to West by Casting Crowns. It is true, in your life and mine. The alarm goes off, we wake up and we begin to talk to ourselves. What will your influence be...? "I am tired." What will your influence be...? "I am not looking forward to this day." What will your influence be...? Maybe you wake up dreading a meeting, a conversation you know you need to have. What will your influence be...? Yes, from the moment we wake up, the war begins. We either speak life, hope & opportunity into our own hearts or we speak death, dread, perhaps failure. From the moment we become conscious we are determining our mental state, shaping the condition of our spirit for the day. Please be intentional, please be positive. Don't leave it to chance by how you feel...dictate your thoughts, your intentions to your feelings. They will follow.

What are we reading, thinking about, talking about, etc as we get ready for work/school? Yes, it matters. Are we reading, focusing on, talking about life giving, fruit bearing truth or are we allowing negativity, lies, death to be poured into our hearts. What will your influence be...?

Now we are at work, school or wherever we may go today. What are those conversations like? Who are the people we are allowing to speak into our spirit? Please think about that for a moment - we are allowing people to speak into the depths of who we are. This is NOT something that we want to be careless with, to not pay attention to. There is so much at stake - it is your spirit. It is always with you, it never leaves you...ever! This really isn't that complicated Friends, we just have to be intentional about it. We can figure this out; is it good for you and I to spend our time gossiping with others? How about complaining about our spouses and/or children? How about jumping on the internet and looking at things we would not be proud to tell our spouses, kids, friends (the true one's), bosses about? All of these things - whether they are positive or negative - are filling your bucket and mine. What will your influence be...?

While it is important to realize that our lives do in fact influence every single life we come into contact with, it is critically important to first determine what we are going to allow to influence our lives. It is impossible to live on a consistent basis in a manner inconsistent with who we truly are at our core. A lot of people try...and fail miserably! This is where the quote, "It takes an hour to establish your reputation and a year to reveal your character" comes from. And what determines what we are at our core? Our thoughts, the things we read, watch, the people we associate with, etc. What are we pouring into our wells? What will we allow to influence our lives? Each one of us will choose (there is that dadgum - it's football season and I love Bobby Bowden - choice again!) and what we choose will in turn determine the influence we will have in the lives of others. Positive or negative we will all choose...

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your families. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.

Kev