Choose Wisely

I’m sure you’ve all heard the saying that “one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch”. If you take a piece of rotten fruit and place it beside perfectly good fruit…what happens? The mold from the rotten fruit spreads over to the good fruit and both end up in bad condition.

So what happens when you surround yourself with people who are negative? Just think about it!!! You’ll become just like them.

So we need to surround ourselves with those who encourage us to shine! Anyone who dims your light just so theirs is brighter doesn’t deserve you!

My mom always said to choose your friends wisely. I never realized how important that was until I was older. Sometimes as children or young adults we choose friends because of how we perceive them to be. Have you ever wanted to be friends with someone because of their social status or because they seem to be head of the “cool” crowd?

Yeah me too. But then you get to know that person and you find that they are nothing like you thought they were. Maybe they are rude, hateful or spiteful. Maybe they are just petty and negative, not someone you enjoy being around.

I’ve always told my boys that you are the company you keep. If you hang around trouble makers then you will be labeled as a trouble maker. Even if you don’t cause any trouble. If you hang around the slackers you’ll be considered a slacker. But if you hang with the hard workers then… you guessed it… you’ll be thought of as a hard worker. It’s just the way it is.

Chances are pretty good that you will become more like the people you spend time with. So if you want to get good grades then spend time with the people that study hard and make good grades. If you want to do better in a sport then hang with the guy/girl that excels in it.

This goes for us adults too. If I want to have a better prayer life, I need to spend time with people that I know pray. If I want to learn more about God and His word then I need to spend time with people that study the Bible. If I want to be faithful to the House of God then I need to spend time with ones that see the importance of attending church faithfully.

Each of us need three different type of people in our lives.

The first person we need is a friend. We need someone to be there by our side to help us through this life. We need someone that we can just be “real” with. My friend is Angel and God brought her into my life just when I needed her. We’ve known each other for about ten years but it feels like I’ve known her all my life.

We can confide in and pour our hearts out to each other, the good, the bad and the ugly. We need someone we can trust that won’t judge us for being human. It should be someone that we can fully trust to keep our business to themselves. Someone that will pray for and with us.

If you have someone like this, cherish them and value the relationship, make time to cultivate it. Be sure that you are that same kind of friend for them. Don’t ever, ever gossip or talk about what they have told you in confidence. It takes years to build trust with another person but just seconds to destroy it.

Second, we need someone to inspire us. Someone that will challenge us to be more than we think we can be. Someone who will call us out when we aren’t working at our full potential. This is someone that will give us instruction and advice. Someone who will pray for and with us to become all that God wants us to be. This is someone you need to be able to trust. They can point things out in our life that we may not see. We need to trust their judgement and advice.

The person I can trust to speak good things into my life happens to be my Pastor’s wife. I’ve watched her life and have known her for a very long time. I’ve seen her in her good times and I’ve watched her deal with the bad times. She’s real and she not only talks the talk but she walks the walk. She inspires me to be better than what I ever thought I could be.

Third, we need someone we can mentor. Someone that will come to us for advice and counsel. Someone that we can pray for and help when needed. Having someone like this in our life will help us feel like we have a purpose. It will drive us to do better ourselves because we know someone else is watching and depending on us.

I’ve always said that we have someone watching us whether we realize it or not. I don’t take this lightly, I want to be a light to everyone I come in contact with. I want them to know that they are loved and they are worthy of great things with God! I want them to walk away from me thinking “she’s a breath of fresh air!”

“If holding on should cause me to grow weary, and if my feet should stumble when trouble comes my way. Could someone be there watching to see what role I’ll play? Lord make me strong enough to say, I’ll be a testimony.” This is a verse of a song written by Gina Vera. I absolutely love the words!

I encourage you to look at the people you surround yourself with. Are they trustworthy, are they honest, do they have your best interest at heart? Now look at yourself. What kind of friend are you? Be the person in someone else’s life that you want and need in your life.

Does this make sense? Is it helpful? Feel free to leave your comments below.