RAINEY DAY READING

“Influence” is a word that is overused in today’s culture. We describe people as “influencers” because they have an amount of followers on social media, which presumes that they have an impact on the opinions or actions of others.

Measuring by that standard, we can be fooled into believing that we are not influential if we don’t have a massive following. Yet, this thinking is flawed, as the quote illustrates. We often have no idea of the true, lasting influence on others that we wield every day.

After the disaster that was 2020, everyone was hoping for a better year in 2021. Unfortunately, the year wasn’t the success I was expected. Early in the year, I began to face ministry pressures that were different from anything I’d faced before. Throughout the year, that pattern continued. Every time we’d weather another challenge, just as everything would stabilize, another tsunami of stress would wave over us again. Instead of calming down, the year grew harder and harder, culminating in December with some serious issues to resolve. But in the fiery furnace of those experiences, I learned who walks by my side through the blaze.

Most of my friends are posting photos of their children on the first day of school this week, and cuteness overloads my entire social media feed, as I scroll through these bright smiles and overloaded backpacks. It’s a little less cute for the mature adult who decides to go back to school, but probably just as emotional and overwhelming. Maybe even more so.

Four months ago, I started my doctorate. It’s been a few years in the planning and process. But I just couldn’t seem to start.