Whose Life Have You Impacted Today?

A friend e-mailed the story below to me and I wanted to share with everyone.  Every good word we speak could impact and/or change the way someone perceives themselves and others around them.  Our country has changed to a culture that says “it’s all about me”.  Few take time to let their family and friends know that they are important in this world.  Things and substance doesn’t matter if we have no one to share it with.  When we get offended or angry toward our family, children, etc.  our first response is to allow the human nature to take over and respond which will do more damage than we realize.  We need to step back and ask God to help us to respond in the correct way with wisdom and understanding from His Word.  James 3:17-18 says, 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

 We hurt each other with words and then we justify it because “they deserved it”.  Our children are being raised to stand up for themselves and that’s great to a certain extent.  But it gone too far!  They bully each other and taunt each other with hurtful words for whatever reason.  We need to teach our children to prefer the other and make peace with one another.  We don’t know how that child is being treated at home.  They may live in a home that is addicted to drugs and alcohol and their parents or family members could be very abusive.  If we can educate our children from the beginning what we say to each other, how we say it and how we live when we are with those children can make a big impact on their lives. 

I heard so many times, “Oh let children be children”.  They will grow out of it.  But I beg to differ with you.  Human beings are the most impressionable as children than any other time of their lives.  Paul wrote to Timothy when he was young and said this in 1 Timothy 4:12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.  Samuel was used by God at a very young age.  God loved David and used him at very young age. Joseph was used at a young and saved his family from death. 

Today we excuse our children for their actions because “we live in such a corrupt world”.  If that is your reasoning, then what about Samuel and the example he lived under?  It says in 1 Samuel 2:22 that Eli’s sons lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle.  Can you image that?  Your son’s having intimate relations at the door of your church?  What about Joseph?  His brothers sold him into slavery.  Then he was thrown in jail for many years before God brought him out of it.  David killed Goliath at a very young age.  His brothers taunted him and told him to go back home.  How would you like it if your siblings were not supportive of you and humiliated you in front of everyone else?  Our world has been corrupt from the beginning of time. 

Instead of wars and slavery, we now allow Hollywood to influence our children through TV.  They watch violence constantly.  They hear cursing and fighting and others being cursed at as if this is the way to fix an argument.  They have become callus to any violence they see.  You say “let children be children”?  My friend, if you are a Christian and you are disagreeing with me, then you need to take a look at your relationship with God and get into the Word.  We must renew our minds daily in prayer and reading the word of God.  If we have children at home, we need to have prayer and devotions with them EVERY DAY, teaching them the Word of God and how they can live an overcoming life through Christ.  Impact your child or someone else’s child today with your positive actions and edify them with your conversation.  We must not be conformed to this world but transformed by the renewing of our minds so much so that we impact the youth of our day!  I hope the story that you are about to read challenges your life as it has mine.

One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down. It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers.

That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual. On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. "Really?" she heard whispered. "I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!" and, "I didn't know others liked me so much," were most of the comments.

No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another. That group of students moved on.

Several years later, one of the students was killed in Vietnam and his teacher attended the funeral of that special student. She had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. He looked so handsome, so mature.
The church was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took a last walk by the coffin. The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin.

As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to her. "Were you Mark's math teacher?" he asked. She nodded: "yes." Then he said: "Mark talked about you a lot."

After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates went together to a luncheon.. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher.

"We want to show you something," his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket "They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it."

Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. The teacher knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed all the good things each of Mark's classmates had said about him.

"Thank you so much for doing that," Mark's mother said. "As you can see, Mark treasured it."

All of Mark's former classmates started to gather around. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, "I still have my list. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home."

Chuck's wife said, "Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album."

"I have mine too," Marilyn said, "It's in my diary."

Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. "I carry this with me at all times," Vicki said and without batting an eyelash, she continued: "I think we all saved our lists."

That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again. The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we don't know when that one day will be.

So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are special and important. Tell them, before it is too late.   –Arthur Unknown-