You are a person of influence.

YOU...ARE....you just are!

Whether or not you realize it or believe it to be true.

There will be times you recognize your influence, perhaps most visibly in your children, if you're a parent. Other places that "scream" influence are in the workplace (which for some, I guess, is in the home, too).

However, I'm convinced the ripple effect of your actions is more influencial than you (or I) will ever realize in this life. Not just in the big things, but in the small.

When Erin was here for a visit with her family, she helped me cook dinner. One of her "jobs" was shucking corn, something I've done a thousand times. She heated it in the microwave first, and the silks practically jumped off the cob......much easier than without nuking them. I do it every time we have fresh corn now (and think of her...and smile).

When I was at the beach trolling a bookstore for a good summer read, a COMPLETE STRANGER recommended a book she LOVED. Her enthusiasm was compelling; I bought and consumed the book in two days. She, in turn, bought one I suggested as perfect for beach reading. Amazing to me that both of us would be motivated by someone we didn't know, as if each other's opinions were somehow similar to our own. We were willing to bank on a complete stranger! (For the record, I enjoyed the book despite its somber content, and was amused to see this author "all over the place"--when before I had never noticed her. I hope my "friend" at the book store enjoyed her purchase as much as I did mine).

Isabel was here for a visit recently and her lips looked BEAUTIFUL! I am much too lazy to wear lipstick regularly, but hmmm, Tad notices when I do ;), so maybe I should reconsider that. Anyway, I asked Izzy "what she did" to get that look. Dang it! It cost me, lol. First, the lip brush--coolest one I've ever seen! The brush retracts into the handle, no lid necessary (so the bristles don't get scrunched and displaced when you put the top on). The second step (after applying your favorite lipstick, which I guess is actually the second step, so this will be the third, but then again, who's counting besides me?) is careful application of lip glass. Now I realize this sounds like a pain in the butt for lipstick-wearing neophytes, but I'm telling you, ya want sexy lips? It's more than worth the effort :D. I figured this was a kind of investment that had a n i c e return ;).

I've written about this before, back when I was an invisible blogger (lol). Once again, it causes me to consider how I'm influencing others. I've seen places where I'm a "tone setter", and sometimes I KNOW I've been a (gulp) less than stellar influence, where I've initiated a sequence of events that didn't have the most favorable outcome (now THAT'S a way to sugar coat stupidity!). Instead, this has become both a challenge and prayer for me (my emphasis added):