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As our province in Canada was reopening after the recent COVID-19 crisis, one of the “privileges” we were finally allowed after weeks of lock down was to be able to visit with a small number of family and friends. Our premier suggested “social bubbles” of no more than 10 people, so that in case of new infections in our group, contact tracing would be simplified. Having been separated for over three months from my aging mother and our university son, we immediately established our “bubble” of four. How wonderful those first hugs felt!
It soon became apparent, however, that our son’s “bubble” contained more than his parents and grandmother. It expanded to include about 5 of his university friends. Thus, our “bubble” now contained 5 people we hardly knew! And of course, if each of those individual 5 people had other people in their “bubbles”, then our bubble potentially expanded way beyond what we were aware of.
Of course, this kind of defeats the purpose of facilitating contact tracing; however, the idea of the “social bubble” makes me think about another “bubble”…Our “bubble” of influence!
You see, we may not think we are touching many people, but just like my “social bubble” that seemed to be so small was, in reality, quite large, our “bubble” of influence is the same. I may think that only one or two people have the possibility of being influenced by my actions; but in reality, my actions could result in far more wide-spread influence than I could ever envision.
I am usually pretty even-tempered, but when things happen that mess up my plans, I can be…well…Let’s just say that I’m usually pretty ashamed of my actions afterwards, and I usually see the need to apologize and repent! I remember one day when I got aggravated at my mom because, in the words of the therapist who phoned me, “She refused to get on the bus to go home and you’ll have to come pick her up from rehab.” Of course, that unexpected trip to the rehab center in a different town, coupled with the trip to her home in yet another different town, did not fit well in my plans, and we’ll just say I had a little “melt-down”. Little did I realize that my two young boys were watching me, and they would go on to tell their grandmother about my reaction. No, I wouldn’t know this for quite some time. Instead, I was left to sit and wonder why my poor mom (who was actually in the middle of a medical crisis at the rehab centre, and our next stop was actually the Emergency Department of the local hospital) couldn’t stop crying, why she acted so guilty and so insecure for the next several weeks… That, of course, affected her interactions with hospital personnel, and before long, the nurses stopped treating her with kindness… All because my little “melt-down” formed a rather large “bubble” of influence!
We never know who is watching us or how our actions/words can affect them. Is this why Jesus gives us such a harsh warning in Matthew 18:6? “But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6 NLT). We may think that we sin in “secret”, but we never know how big our “bubble” of influence might actually be!
One more thought about the “bubble” of influence… We may not all be evangelists, but we are all called to witness, to do everything in our power to draw people to Christ. Most of us don’t ever find ourselves in situations on a daily basis where we are directly speaking to someone about Christ (though this should be our goal!); but we usually are around at least one other person every day. Does our behavior always reflect Jesus Christ? If so, we never know just how far that little act of kindness, that patience, that love shown, etc., will go. Maybe someone saw you carrying groceries into the house for your crippled neighbor. In that one act of kindness, they may begin to want what we have in Christ. And as they each begin to show more kindness, those they are kind to may be drawn to the Lord as well, and our “bubble” of influence grows larger and larger.
What if, however, they see us being impatient? Yelling? Running a red light? Telling a white lie? Will that tell “younger” Christians that these things are okay? And what kind of a message does that give to those who do not know Christ? And if they are drawn even farther away from Him, then their own actions could go on to affect more and more people, drawing them all further from Christ.
The point is, we never know just how far the influence of one tiny action will go. We don’t know how we will negatively – or positively! – impact the lives of those around us, nor how they will influence the lives of those around them as a result. Our best bet is to safeguard ourselves from being a bad influence, something we can easily do by following the advice of the apostle Paul: “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.” (Colossians 3:10 NLT). When we do, we can be assured that we are good influence to those we come across, and that our “bubble” of influence, however big it may be, will help to draw people to – and not away from! – Christ!
In is love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two adult boys, Author -- "Aboard God's Train -- A Journey With God Through the Valley of Cancer", Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, The Illustrator, a four-times-a-week internet newsletter, and the Sermon Illustrator website, all with Answers2Prayer Ministries.
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