Influencing? How?

Influencing and changing people around us - family, friends, co-workers and fellow believers is a direct part of our calling in Christ. So what are the keys to that influence?

(1) A spiritual perspective that believes invisible powers like prayer and love affects our world more than anything we can do naturally;

(2) A determination to model in our own life the very behaviors and priorities we want to see develop in others. What we do has more weight than what we say;

(3) A long-term approach that doesn't insist on immediate change in others, but recognizes that it took a long time for people to become the way they are, and it will take awhile for them to become different;

(4) Lots and lots of love for who they really are (and what they can become) - as opposed to lots and lots of judgment/criticism for what's wrong with them;

(5) And lastly, remembering to live by the two practical truths Jesus shared with us: 

a) act toward others as you'd like to be treated, and 

b) the speck you see in their life simply alerts you to the big board in your own.


P/S: IT SNOWED TODAY!!! Literally glide/slide on the snow *so slippery*