Influences

Today and last Saturday I attended funeral memorials for very beautiful, wonderful people who have left great legacies for their families and friends. I am grateful for these kinds of people and for the many people like this who have touched my life for good. I don't think any of us realize how much of an influence we have on each other. One of these people was my aunt who had a very great influence on my life. I loved her and I know she loved me. I learned so much from watching her faith up close.

The other woman I wasn't real close to, but seeing her occasionally, hearing about her from others, and watching her from afar taught me so much about love and faith. This has made me think about so many other people who have gone on but who have greatly influenced my life--both those close to me and those in the periphery of my life. There are so many and I am so grateful for them.

This has also made me think about the many people who are still alive who encourage and lift and help me to be a better person. Again, some of them would be surprised to learn what they have done for me because I don't interact with them that much. Others are close to me but are unaware of how much I learn from them. I need to tell them. But in the meantime, I think all of us need to realize that we do have an influence on those around us, even if we don't know it. We can't do life alone and God has sent all of us amazing people to help us through.

Influencing the World

Most of us go about our days thinking that what we do and say and think is of little consequence. After all, we are just one little person in the billions of people that fill the world and we aren’t even anyone important. What we do doesn’t make news. But President David O. McKay taught that “Man radiates what he is, and that radiation affects to a greater or lesser degree every person who comes within that radiation.” In another talk he defines this radiation by saying that “Man’s unconscious influence is the silent, subtle radiation of personality—the effect of his words and his actions on others.  This radiation is tremendous.   
Every moment of life man is changing, to a degree, the life of the  

whole world.”

Edward Lorenz, a famous meteorologist, says that the reason it is impossible to make long-range weather predictions is because there are so many variables.   

“A Brazilian butterfly beating its wings in Brazil has an effect on air movements which together with other currents affects the weather in Texas.”       

What we learn from this is that we do make a difference in the world. Try an experiment today. Go out of your way to thank or give compliments to five people you usually wouldn’t and watch what happens. Tell someone whose efforts you usually take for granted such as a grocery store checker or bagger what a good job they are doing. Point out to someone how much you appreciate their smile. Or call someone just to tell them how they have influenced you for good. Do this five times today and notice how it affects
the radiation you have and watch the joy spread to others.

You influence the world. 

Use that influence for good today!

Little Things

I think I must have been born with the desire to be a writer. One of my earliest memories is of watching my father read and wishing with a longing so real it knotted my stomach that I could read because I knew I had to learn to read before I could write. Because of that desire, I learned to read before I went to school and as soon as I had a few “Dick and Jane” words at my written command, I began writing, illustrating, collating, and stapling together my own books and going door to door selling them. Most people said, “No, thank you.” But there were two older ladies on the street who would buy my books.

Aunt Nora, as we called her, would reach in her apron pocket and bring out a nickel for my book. Mrs. Torrey, up the street a ways, would tell me that she would love so much to buy my book but she just didn’t have any money. But she was so sincere and complimentary that I would give her the book which she always read and raved about.

I only wish these two beautiful women were still alive so I could tell them how very, very much their kind gesture has meant to me. Writing is hard. Selling what you write is even harder. Before I sold my first short story, I think I had enough rejection slips to completely cover every wall in my den. That amount of rejection is daunting to say the least. But as each rejection letter arrived, I’d remember Mrs. Torrey and Aunt Nora’s faces and their kind words and their enthusiasm over my “great talent” and I’d keep on trying.

I’m sure they didn’t even think about what they had done after I left. But to me their kindness partially shaped my life. It’s made me think a lot about the little things we do and how they can touch someone else without us even knowing.

I just hope I can be an Aunt Nora or a Mrs. Torrey in someone else’s life.

You Do Make A Difference!

Have you ever walked into a room and from all appearances the people in the room are happy but you feel a tension or negative energy and just know that they were arguing or upset with each other before you came in? Or have you been around people that after they leave you feel like they’ve somehow sapped all the energy out of you?

The opposite can happen also. Have you ever walked into a room and been bathed in warmth and light? Or have you been around people that after they leave you feel lifted and encouraged not by what they said but just by being in their presence?

We sometimes don’t stop to realize the effect others have on us or the effect we have on others. Therefore, when we read, “Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another” (Romans 14:19), we tend to think that we need some extraordinary talent in order to edify others. But we all give off either a positive or a negative "energy" that others can feel. That means that just by being we influence others, and when we choose to live in Truth that influence will be edifying. We can make a difference! Our positive attitudes and feelings help us, but they also encourage others.