May is a wonderful month. We get to celebrate graduations, confirmation and most importantly, Mother’s Day. We will be honoring our graduates at first service on the 6th of May and confirmands at 2nd service on the same Sunday. Of course, we will honor moms on their own day, May 13th. We even made sure to have tomato plants again this year to give to moms as a gift.
Looking at these three events got me thinking about the people in our lives that have impacted them. Cathy Warner Weatherford once said, “What you teach your own children is what you really believe in.” It is not only what we believe in but what we are inviting everyone we come in contact with to believe in. Paul tells Timothy in the above scripture to set an example. Not only are moms setting examples for us, we set examples for everyone.
There are those role models and mentors who have impacted our lives. Who we choose as mentors and role models greatly determines who we will become in life. If we want to become great Christians then we need to follow great Christians. Oliver Goldsmith said, “People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy.” Who do you copy? How often do we take time to even look at the people who impact our lives?
In his book, Good to Great in God’s Eyes, Chip Ingram invites his readers to create a “Spiritual Mount Rushmore.” He asks who are the 4 or 5 people in our lives that have modeled us and mentored us in our faith. Some of us might say our moms, a teacher, a friend, a coworker, a stranger on an airplane, or a person we helped on the street. I invite us to look into our pasts and figure out who we would put on our Mount Rushmore.
That being said, we still need to look and move forward. At any age we need those who teach us, we can teach and those who will tell it to us straight. We are to always look to grow in the knowledge and love of the Lord. Each of us should look for that person who can help us with this. We also need to help teach the next generation. Each of you has a great deal of insight and wisdom to give. I hope you find someone, a child, grandchild, niece, nephew and/or neighbor child to spend time with. But we also need that coffee buddy, or in my case, diet coke colleague, who can tell us what we need to hear when no one else feels they can. These are the ones who know how to talk to us in a way that speaks to our heart and cares for us.
As we celebrate graduations, confirmations and Mother’s Day let us remember the impact we have on one another’s lives and those who have an impact on us.
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