I got a call from a friend about six months ago. He was one of the first guys to go through my Inside/Out Dad class in the Fayette County Detention Center, and we had become friends and continued our friendship after he had been released. He called me and invited me to attend a celebration of his being drug-free for two years. The celebration was to be at a church. That's all I was told.
I told him that I would absolutely be there, so I drove over to Versailles that evening to go to his event. Turns out it wasn't a church service- it was an NA (Narcotics Anonymous) meeting. I'd never been to one of those before, and honestly, I felt a little uncomfortable. Seemed like everyone knew each other except me, and to be quite honest, I was feeling a little bit out of place.
The program began with a completely packed room. For those of you who have never been to an NA meeting, you'd be surprised who was there. There were men, women, black, white, Latino, Asian, and every other ethnicity; there were raggedy t-shirts and three-piece suits; there were people still coming down off a high and those who had been sober for years.
The speaker for the night was the one who really impacted me. He shared how he was fifteen years sober, and if he could do it everyone else could, yada yada yada. I was expecting that. However, he said something I didn't expect. Something that would stay with me the rest of my life and would help me define my life motto/mission statement.
He said, "You guys know what motivated me to get clean? It wasn't money. It wasn't the fact that I had hit rock bottom. It wasn't jail time, it wasn't watching my friends OD and die, it wasn't getting shot at and chased and all that." He paused a long, silent pause and looked around the room. Then he said, "What motivated me to change was the fact that every single person that I encountered, whether it was family or friends or even the pizza guy, was worse off for encountering me."
He went on to say how he had a negative influence on every single person he met. No one left being better off than they were when they met him. That was what motivated him to change.
I walked away from that meeting reflecting on that statement. What about me? Are people better off having encountered me, or, like this guy, were people worse off? I made up my mind right then and there that my life would be the opposite of what he experienced. My life's goal would be for every single person that encountered me would be better off, whether in big or small ways.
I boiled that thought down to two words: BE INFLUENTIAL.
That is my life's motto. Be influential.
Wherever I go, I want to exert positive influence. Whether it is in the Jessamine County jail, the Fayette County jail, the villages of India and Nepal, the soccer fields, my church, my home, my family, the grocery store, a restaurant I happen to be eating in; wherever it is, I want to be a positive influence. I want people to be better off because I showed up. I want waiters to have a better day because I was their customer. I want prisoners to have a little more hope and encouragement because I came and visited. I want the people of my church to have a closer walk with God and a deeper understanding of their faith because I am their pastor. I want my children to have a better chance at success in life and to have more character because I was their father. I want my wife to have a better life, to have been loved more, than she would have if I wasn't her husband.
In other words, I want every environment I am in to be better off because of my positive influence.
Be influential.
Too many people have amazing things to offer in life- to their friends, to their families, to their communities, to their churches- yet never do. They are not influential. They, instead, are influenced. Instead of being the influencers, they are simply influenced. Who knows what our families, our communities, our teams, our churches, our places of business would be like if people stepped up and decided to be positive influences wherever they are?
Be influential.
How about you? Are people better off after having met you? Worked with you? Served you? Done business with you? Or are you like the former addict- a black hole of negativity that sucks the life and joy out of every person you meet? Are people better off having you in their lives?
At the end of my life, I simply want to be able to say that I was influential, that people were better off with me than without me, that this world is a better place because I was here, that I was able to influence my environment by positive interaction. I ask you to do the same.
Be influential. This world needs you.
I told him that I would absolutely be there, so I drove over to Versailles that evening to go to his event. Turns out it wasn't a church service- it was an NA (Narcotics Anonymous) meeting. I'd never been to one of those before, and honestly, I felt a little uncomfortable. Seemed like everyone knew each other except me, and to be quite honest, I was feeling a little bit out of place.
The program began with a completely packed room. For those of you who have never been to an NA meeting, you'd be surprised who was there. There were men, women, black, white, Latino, Asian, and every other ethnicity; there were raggedy t-shirts and three-piece suits; there were people still coming down off a high and those who had been sober for years.
The speaker for the night was the one who really impacted me. He shared how he was fifteen years sober, and if he could do it everyone else could, yada yada yada. I was expecting that. However, he said something I didn't expect. Something that would stay with me the rest of my life and would help me define my life motto/mission statement.
He said, "You guys know what motivated me to get clean? It wasn't money. It wasn't the fact that I had hit rock bottom. It wasn't jail time, it wasn't watching my friends OD and die, it wasn't getting shot at and chased and all that." He paused a long, silent pause and looked around the room. Then he said, "What motivated me to change was the fact that every single person that I encountered, whether it was family or friends or even the pizza guy, was worse off for encountering me."
He went on to say how he had a negative influence on every single person he met. No one left being better off than they were when they met him. That was what motivated him to change.
I walked away from that meeting reflecting on that statement. What about me? Are people better off having encountered me, or, like this guy, were people worse off? I made up my mind right then and there that my life would be the opposite of what he experienced. My life's goal would be for every single person that encountered me would be better off, whether in big or small ways.
I boiled that thought down to two words: BE INFLUENTIAL.
That is my life's motto. Be influential.
Wherever I go, I want to exert positive influence. Whether it is in the Jessamine County jail, the Fayette County jail, the villages of India and Nepal, the soccer fields, my church, my home, my family, the grocery store, a restaurant I happen to be eating in; wherever it is, I want to be a positive influence. I want people to be better off because I showed up. I want waiters to have a better day because I was their customer. I want prisoners to have a little more hope and encouragement because I came and visited. I want the people of my church to have a closer walk with God and a deeper understanding of their faith because I am their pastor. I want my children to have a better chance at success in life and to have more character because I was their father. I want my wife to have a better life, to have been loved more, than she would have if I wasn't her husband.
In other words, I want every environment I am in to be better off because of my positive influence.
Be influential.
Too many people have amazing things to offer in life- to their friends, to their families, to their communities, to their churches- yet never do. They are not influential. They, instead, are influenced. Instead of being the influencers, they are simply influenced. Who knows what our families, our communities, our teams, our churches, our places of business would be like if people stepped up and decided to be positive influences wherever they are?
Be influential.
How about you? Are people better off after having met you? Worked with you? Served you? Done business with you? Or are you like the former addict- a black hole of negativity that sucks the life and joy out of every person you meet? Are people better off having you in their lives?
At the end of my life, I simply want to be able to say that I was influential, that people were better off with me than without me, that this world is a better place because I was here, that I was able to influence my environment by positive interaction. I ask you to do the same.
Be influential. This world needs you.
No comments:
Post a Comment