The other night I asked a group of people to look back over their life and try to identify a person, who stood out as having had a significant influence on their lives. For one, it was a father figure; for others, it was a grandmother figure or even a young child. It is often true that the person, who is influencing you may not even be aware of it...and can be at any age or stage in life. As we look back over our life, there are those who have left an imprint which we will never forget.
In my own personal life, I remember being influenced at the age of about 7 or 8 by a neighbor named George, a retired master mechanic from Ford Motor Company, who was most likely in his 70's or 80's. Probably his greatest attribute was his love of children and his willingness to make time to be friendly... showing me how he did Blacksmith type stuff in his garage workshop. He even let me turn the crank on his blower, which made the coals red-hot in his forge for heating up a piece of steel, which he was preparing to reshape on the anvil. On other occasions, he would invite us kids to sit on his glider on the front porch having a glass of lemonade and singing "yes we have no bananas" to us. He would sometimes spin some kind of tale for us and his wife, Marie would come out and scold him for telling us kids some ridiculous untrue story.
And then as a young adult, I remember respecting and looking up to a man, who was an executive at Ford Motor Company, who was a Christian, and a family man, a person of integrity, a strong leader, a good listener, a person of compassion, and whose priorities were God, Family, and Job...in that order. Dick served in industry and also served tirelessly in his church; I always admired and respected the example he set in his own personal life and I tried to set those same priorities in my life as well.
As I think of how we interact with others and how we perhaps influence those around us, I realize that others have said the same thing in different ways...Albert Einstein put it this way...'Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others; it is the only means." Others have said things like...'Your child will follow your example, not your advice'... or 'Be strong, you never know who you are inspiring'...and there are many other quotes.
It is especially important during this Easter season, to remember the greatest example ever given. I told a dear friend the other day, Jesus' whole life on earth was a life of example...even to the point of going to the cross for my sins...an example of perfect obedience to the will of His Father. In Luke 22:42, we read "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." Jesus set the example for each of us to follow; we won't always get it right...but we should never stop trying to be a blessing to others. Let us pray to God that He will use our lives to bless others today and in so doing...making a difference... leading 'a life of example'.
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