To Those Who Influence Me--Thank You

More than I can name, more than I remember, there are people in my life who have done me good. They aren't always the ones who are nicest to me either. Imagine that!

Thank you to the families in Bolivia and on furlough who let me participate in your lives and associate with you. You taught me about people, their differences, their uniqueness, their similarities, and about all the many ways love is displayed. Your generosity wasn't always noticed or respected, but I know now that it was worth far more than I realized, even when I was grateful.

Thank you to those who have been hard on me, holding up standards I have not yet managed to achieve and really thinking I could accomplish them. You challenged me to try harder, to look for more from myself than I would choose to do on my own. Thank you for being different from me, for knowing more than me, for seeking to teach what I didn't want to learn. I'm beginning to see that people like you are very necessary and important to a fully functioning body. I'm very glad I'm not like you, however, because that would make me a wannabe you, and not me at all. God has His purposes for people like me also... but I'm sure He's improved my usefulness just through knowing you.

Above all, thank you to those of you who I chose to love and admire more than I think you ever knew. While some of you have fallen off your pedestals, I think I love you all the more for it. God has used you and the memory of you to teach me about what love is and what it is not. I'm learning that love need not always be returned in the same form or measure, that it doesn't need to be returned at all! You have taught me so much about life and growth, service and strength, honor and humility. You probably don't know how much I honor you or how often I think of you all. I probably don't speak of it to many people simply because it isn't logical and I cannot explain it. Many of you stepped out of my life years ago when I graduated Tambo and haven't crossed paths with me since. Yet the memory of you keeps me thinking about life and love and honoring God by leaping forward with His strength, and what happens when we let go of it and flounder.

I've learned from your mistakes as well. I wish you'd have been more direct in your warnings because I wish I'd been more cautious many times, and I think you might have helped had you not fallen prey to the fear of being known for your failures, even as I so often am now. Yet, I understand. It was my own choice in the end, and perhaps the warnings would have done nothing but give me more to regret looking back.

You are part of my future. As I look forward, you are the people I long to welcome into my home. You are the ones I wish to encourage. Most likely, God will bring others my way to whom I can offer these things, but it is a tribute to you. You have been used by God in my life, and it is because of all of you and your influence on me that I will ever accomplish anything worthwhile.

Isn't God amazing? Look at how He has used you, and be glad.

Names? Well, I couldn't possibly list them all, so I'll provide a few general categories with the stipulation that if I didn't list you, you just add your name to the pile. Mom, Dad, Paul, SRL folk, Wagners (wow, guys, you're a challenging bunch), Family, Teachers, Friends, People who weren't particularly interested in being friends, Authors, Theologians, Pastors, ................... I could go on. Trust me, it would become harder to read than it is now. Imagine page after page of it, and be glad God is keeping better track than I am.