The Power (and Responsibility) of Influence... a Five Minute Friday post.

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Happy Saturday, friends!

I hope this weekend offers you rest and recovery... and a little fun and family time, too!  I am still recovering and while the improvements in vision are slower than I'd like --the improvements are happening and so I'm limiting screen time and resting when I feel the need... I had my one week post-op follow up and the healing is happening, and the doctor took me off all restrictions! This is great news... however, I will say - that was on Thursday afternoon and between Thursday night and Friday morning, I may have overdone it with my freedom! So I'm laying low today and resting well! But first... because, Y'all know how words build up and need to flow... we're gonna sit here and see what happens! 

This is a Five Minute Friday post... which simply means I set a timer
and free write for five minutes flat on the one-word prompt: INFLUENCE

{GO!}


When I see the word, I reflect back over a few conversations I had recently with my Only Girlie who is now All Grown Up and a Lil Mama herself.

Here's the Deal: 

When they are little, we are well aware.

We are intentional about being a good influence on them as they grow. These gifts in flesh and blood who at any and every new stage tend to stretch us and test us and cause us to grow right alongside them!

But this is a reminder that we all need:
All of us are influenced by others... 
and all of us are doing the influencing...
-whether we are conscious of it or not!
 -We are either a good influence or a bad one!

I know how often the word "Intentional" is being thrown around right now.  It seems it is a Buzzword and it's often overused.

However, I can't say for you --but for me?
I want to be Intentional in wielding my Influence for good!



There is power in being influential... 
  --but there is also great responsibility!

When my Girlie was younger --I knew she was watching me. 

She was observing me in our own interactions, but she also watched how I talked with her classmates and besties and how I loved our neighbors or community at church.  She took note in how I related to her Daddy and my own grown-up friends. She may not have been making a list --but the way I conducted myself was being tallied away in the back of her mind, helping her decide how she would treat others and who she wanted to grow up to be!

As time marched on and she grew up and moved out, I somehow forgot that all of those choices from all of those years ago would still be influencing her even now.

Let me take a moment and speak to you Mama's
who are still in the thick of it:

Two things...

1. Lisa Jo Baker has a great resource called The Temper Toolkit for dealing with Littles (and your own temper!) and it is amazing!

And... 

2. Even if when you lose it... even when you forget the Influence you have and you feel like you blew it, rest assured - what they remember most are the highlights. They remember the consistent choices... the words you speak over and over and over... they remember the love. 

Now I'm not saying that they don't remember
the hard times or the discipline or the strict rules...
but what I'm finding is that once they are grown
and learning how to parent themselves,
they just may actually thank you for those things!

They may be grateful for the Influence you had on them
and how the way you are has helped to grow them up
into the who they are becoming!

Let's purpose to sow intentionally... 

Realize the power and potential of your Influence --on your kids, yes... but also on your other family members, your spouse, your co-workers and neighbors, and strangers at the store... Realize the responsibility and privilege of having Influence and purpose to use it for good!

If we can influence others to be kind... 
to show grace and be quick to forgive... 
to speak life, to be love, & to shine on... 
well then, we just may be on to something!

Just maybe, we will be able to
influence those around us
to follow us, as we follow Him!

{STOP!}

Listen, we purposed to raise a tiny human into someone who we would want to be friends with once she was tall... and that is what has happened and I can't tell you how blessed we are by her. We are constantly, consistently impressed and amazed at who she has grown up to be! She is the best of both of us and also completely all her own!  

While this piece was written in relation to parenting --as you know if you have hung around this little corner of the interwebs much at all, I strongly believe that we are ALL called to parent... to mother and to encourage... to mentor and to influence!  

Whether you have Littles or not... you are influencing those around you... you are!  

There are eyes and ears paying attention to your words and your choices and while I am IN NO WAY advocating people pleasing or good works for the basis of good works, I AM advocating being aware of the power and responsibility of how we live our lives out loud... 

One thing I often reminded my Girlie of when she was little was how we humans always tend to gather around the lowest common denominator... so Rise Up!

Take your influence seriously and wield it well... 
Release the Kingdom everywhere you go...
It's not as hard as you may think.
Simply purpose to:

Linking up with Kate Motaung and the #fmfparty Community today.  Five Minute Fridays give us the chance to dive right in and share what He puts on our hearts! Click HERE to read what others have to say about "INFLUENCE"

The FMF lowdown: The gathering happens on Twitter on Thursday nights & then we write our hearts out & hit publish all over the interwebs on Thursday & Friday (& sometimes on Tuesdays!) It's where we encourage & uplift... where we share prayer requests & praise reports... where we talk about food & friends & we find support & kindred hearts. It's where we are reminded that life is good & God is good & we're not alone... & then we all write for five minutes flat, a flash mob of wordsmiths letting our hearts & our fingers do the talking tapping & we hit publish before we can second-guess it all away. We'd love to have you join us!

Photos courtesy of Unsplash from Simon Rae and Nathan Dumlao

I'm also linking up with the lovely writer community linked below:

Crystal Twaddell for #FreshMarketFriday

Mary Geisen for #TellHisStory

Kelly Balarie for #RaRaLinkUp

Lori Schumaker for #MomentsofHope

Sue Donaldson for #LetsHaveCoffee

Kristin Hill Taylor for #PorchStories

Meg Weyerbacher for #TeaandWord

Maybe somehow you don't know this, but we have our very own (somewhat non-blog-related) podcast called THE CHANGING OUR MINDS PODCAST! Karrilee and her all grown up Girlie co-host this podcast and talk about Oh So Many random things!  Faith plays a part, sure... but it is more like joining us for coffee as we catch up on the couch or sitting at the table! We talk about whatever is on our minds and often reveal things that we used to think we know... but we've changed our minds! We'd love to have you join us at the Table or a comfy couch as we catch up over a cup of something yummy and share life together! We invite you to SUBSCRIBE here to have the Podcast sent to your preferred listening device so you won't miss a thing! Also, follow us on Facebook to join in on the conversations!