Choose to Make a Difference

It has been too long since my last post, but life has been busy in transition.  Family comes first, and my parents have been struggling a bit after a year since my dad's pancreatectomy.  Return of abdominal pain, loss of appetite, blood sugar often dangerously low, and accompanying depression resultant of a year's struggle.  My dad is a fighter, an overcomer and a man who is loved by so many!  The wake of concern is evident everywhere I go, whenever I run into people in the construction industry.  I am known as "Roy's son".  It is the badge of honor I wear with exceeding pride for my father, his character and care for others that has earned him the love of so many.

These, including ones at my church, who have had only one encounter with him (he came, one Sunday, to thank us for praying for him) ask with exceeding regularity, how my dad is doing.  I have learned and observed my dad living a life of great character, a champion for people and relationships, reveled as now the people in the industry care mostly for making money.  Today, rather than seeing people as agents to enable successful accomplishment of their work, the focus in on the work rather than those who provide needed resources to accomplish the task, leveraging them and abusing them when things don't go as planned.  The way they speak of my dad and the old days joyfully stirs my memory, warming my heart like a fire in fireplace of a mountain cabin. My dad cares for people even in business.

Character.  It is found in all of us.  There is character that changes the world for the better, and I have been privileged to observe and know it as my father lives his life.  It is the springboard that presses my heart to be a man of character too.  Sure, there are some chinks in our armor, but they are miniscule compared to the overwhelming good that rises from the heart of my dad and this son desiring to follow suit.

I grow weary of the news proclaiming the evils encroaching upon us, longing to surround myself with that which counters it, and I do so, in part, by surrounding myself with those whose lives make  difference, the abundance of them standing in refute of the few who chose to reign terror amongst us.  I choose not to allow the few overtake the plethora, people you and I know, who are raining beauty and blessing upon those around us.  And don't we need to hear and do the same with our lives?

Little by little we have been nursed to become people of fear, doubt, mistrust and discomfort as media and reporting becomes sensational instead of just the facts, the few it touts influencing the many.  The message becoming the "messawge" (mispelled so you understand the same word pronounced differently).

You, and I can choose to change the world, our world, like my dad has done with his life.  My father is an overcomer.  Against the opposition, he has chosen character that speaks into lives, trusting and investing into the hearts and souls of others, and I, his son, willfully choose to do likewise.  In his time of need, I choose to be present, doing what he has done for me all these decades, encouraging and challenging me to be my best, do my best and rise above those who succumb to discouragement and toil. What about you?  Do you surround yourself with people of character, choosing to do the same?  Do you choose to care for those around you, including and especially those you consider hard to love?  Rather than cave into the mess in your family, do you choose to be one who restores joy and peace?  Are you a person of peace rather than one of contention?

We can and do change our world one person at a time if we choose to be such in the lives of those we see each day.  As I engage my God in the process, He leads me to do things that contribute to the lives of those around me as encouragement.  I get to know waiters and waitresses and tip well beyond what is norm choosing to invest in their lives.  I notice those who work hard to make my experience great, especially those in retail whose days are met mostly with complainers.  I choose to smile, be patient and thank them for their understanding.  Rather than be impatient in line, I thank them for giving customers before me the time and quality of service they also render me.

It is quite simple, actually.  Rather than think of myself as important, seeing others as more important than me.  Hmmmm.....sounds Biblical...and it is.  My God Himself, sent His Son down to earth.  Rather than lose us, to our own nature of selfishness and evil, He offered us a way to be redeemed.  What god has ever done or thought of doing so?  And when Jesus walked the earth, He did not do or desire his own bidding, but rather that of His heavenly Father.

This act finishes what my dad instilled in me.  For, while I desire to be a good man like he, I know of only one who can transform my life beyond the beautiful of my dad's, speaking volumes of goodness not because of my character, but God's.  Indeed, I do desire to make a difference here, but what if God allows me make a difference for eternity?  More glorious and divine.  More powerful and meaningful would be such a life, a life not just of good character, but Godly character.  What my dad started, God will finish.  Choose to make a difference.  Not for our glory, but His.