Impressions…To Pass On

“Now all has been heard, here is the conclusion of the matter….” Ecclesiastes 12:13,14

The other day I was wondering, “Who has made me who I am today? What influenced me to turn right and not left through life? Whose influence has made me even care to think about such things?” And so, one by one, I retraced my life’s steps and who made the biggest impressions in me, for good or bad.

My conclusion? There were many that influenced me for the bad…but only a handful for the good.

Thank God for that handful! I think I would be very lost today…if not for them.

Those few, (some now in heaven, and some still alive) now bear witness in my heart asking, “What are you doing with what we gave you? What impression will you pass on to others?”

“Impressions”…what will I leave imbedded into someone when I’m gone? What directions will they move in because I was a part of their life?

It’s a simple question. But a profound realization. Our lives DO leave impressions.

“It was in their words”, that I remembered them the most. Conversations…are what truly formed my character, to be what it is today. Their Words, some a half century old, I hear in my mind right now.

But it was in their Love for me, that I cared to take to heart what they said.

So… If there was one sentence I would want to pass on into others I’ve Loved, a few words that would leave a lasting impression to help them in the future steps they take, it would be…

“Honor God in what you Know, and Trust Him in what you don’t.”

If I could pass on this truth, in Love and words to them, I will have given them, a most valuable Impression.

“Every word was a seed to him. And every seed had its time…” -excerpt from Men, Like Trees, Prologue.