A scary thought came to me this morning. Every grown-up normally functioning person in this world has a constant daily sphere of influence on every person with whom he is in contact. Even casual encounters with another human being bring forth a response, not necessarily audible but felt. And it’s true that our effect on others may vary according to our mood, good, bad or indifferent, but it’s there, and it’s our responsibility. For instance teachers are sometimes remembered a lifetime for one thing they said or did in a classroom. One kind encouraging word you spoke to someone and then forgot may have been a turning-point in that person’s life. We carry great influence just by being among fellow human beings, and that influence is heavily weighted with responsibility.
We may need to develop an awareness of how much our words and actions affect those around us every day. Like dynamite, the influence we wield is good or bad according to its use, and it’s ours to control. A word casually spoken may do irreparable harm or life-changing good.
“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” Proverbs 25:11
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