Pastor’s Corner: Influence

June 5, 2019

How many people do you influence?

I would guess it’s more than you imagine.

What you say, what you do (and what you don’t say and what you don’t do) makes a difference in the lives of the people you see nearly every day. Think about their faces for a moment. Some of them may be family, some of them may be co-workers. Some of them may be friends you arrange to see often. Some of them may be people you love very much indeed.

If you say that or show it, you know how they respond. You’ve seen the light in their eyes.

You probably see other people nearly every day and don’t know them nearly as well. They help you in the stores or serve you food at the drive-through window. They walk on a slightly different route than you take when you exercise. They deliver your mail or your newspaper. You might know their names; you very well may not.

How you greet them – how you show respect for them (or not) – makes a difference in their day. So much of our daily labor is routine, mechanical. People often feel like meaningless cogs in a machine. A smile reminds us, reminds them, that we’re human, that they’re human, that we share a bond. It matters.

Like wavelets in the water, those moments ripple on. Someone having a slightly better day than they’d expected is likely to make somebody else’s day a little better than anticipated. Anger and stress do the same. We can lift people up; we can also bring them down. They will do much the same in turn.

How many people do you influence?

The ones you interact with, and a host of people that you don’t.

You make a difference. What you say and do matters.

With aloha,

Pastor Eric

The photo of Rev. Choo Lak Yeow and Pastor Eric was taken on June 7, 2019, at the 197th ‘Aha Pae’aina. Pastor Eric was wearing orange at the summons of Everytown for Gun Safety.