lasting impression

for almost a year and 6 months now, i have recognized the face and voice of my niece. i can easily pick her out of the crowded play area at chapters or in the busy nursery at church. i recognize her chortles, cries, and chatter in the midst of other noises. i recognize her.


in the past couple of weeks her mother, my sister, told me about 2 separate instances that both warmed my heart and caused me to think a couple thoughts :-)


one day my sister was on facebook and she showed my niece a picture of me. here's what my sister wrote to me via facebook: "I showed Marcail your profile picture. She was smiling and pointing! I was saying, "Hi Aunt T!" and she was waving at you ;)" a few days following that occasion, my sister told me following a church service that my niece noticed me on the platform at my church where i do some singing. it was obvious she recognized me and was pleased to see me, even if only from a distance.


i know my niece has likely recognized me for some time now...but these times were different than when my mom brings my niece close to the platform while i'm singing, or when my sister brings her in close proximity to me for the purpose of us seeing each other, or when i approach her to make over her. it's like these times, brought to my attention, my niece recognized me without having to be reminded who i am. she recognized me. 


here are my 2 thoughts (well, 3 if you count the recurring thought that i have the most adorable and brightest niece in the world)... 

for one, apparently i have done things to make myself recognizable to my niece in a good way. it's not fear, or annoyance, or upset, or indifference based recognition...but, if i may take the liberty of presumption, it's joy and delight based recognition. this made me ask the question, have i made myself recognizable in a positive way to the people i interact with, no matter what the level of interaction is? i'm not suggesting that everyone's gonna like me and want to be my best friend, but have i made the kind of impression that leaves a good taste in people's mouths? which brings me to something i heard on the radio, as the morning show host prepared to do a "listener of the week" draw, employing the assistance of an unsuspecting guest to announce the impending draw with a set of sticks and cymbals. following the cymbal solo and resounding final crash, the host noted the enthusiasm of the percussionist, who in turn remarked that she thought she might have only the one shot at making a lasting impression. the radio host shot back that as far as he could tell, she certainly made an impression on the cymbal. the point is that i make an impression on people. i better make sure it's a positive one and one that i want to revisit; not one i'd prefer to forget or remove like a bad tattoo :-) 


and secondly, i might have a great, "out of this world" impression of God, but does He have a good and positive impression of me? have a left a good taste in His mouth? does He know me in a good way? someday i'm gonna stand before Him, and i want Him to be able to say "well done, good and faithful servant," not "depart from Me...I never knew you"...or like the message translation of matthew 7:21-23 says, "I can see it now—at the final judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, 'Master, we preached the message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.' and do you know what I am going to say? 'you missed the boat. all you did was use Me to make yourselves important. you don't impress Me one bit. you're out of here.'" i want to make sure He knows me in a good way. 1 cor. 8:3 (nlt) says, "the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes." and if i love Him, according to john 14:15, i will keep His commandments. i guess doing these simple things will ensure that He recognizes me in a good way :-)

the way i see it, the phrase "lasting impression" has probably been used to describe my impact on someone, and the mark i've left by my actions or inaction, by the things i've said or didn't say, by my behaviour or attitude, etc. i think i've done a good job leaving a good lasting impression on my niece; i want to be careful that i do the same with others, and with God, so that if i was a tattoo, it'd be a good association, and not a bad memory.


and that's all i've gotta say about that :-)

"an open letter"

i just finished reading "dark like mine" and "badbanana". to have a better sense where my thoughts are coming from, you might want to read 'em :-)

what follows is what both posts said to me personally...

both of the above blog entries reminded me of all the times i forget who i profess to be and, by my actions or inaction, project a poor image of God and quite possibly leave people with a bad impression of Him, or no impression of Him...which is just as bad...because who you represent should be clear, and it should be good.

all too often i forget that my life's an open book...ever heard the expression "an open letter?" one of the features of the open letter is that it's intended to be brought to public attention. well, newsflash: "your lives are a letter...everyone can read it...clearly, you are a letter from Christ...this 'letter' is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. it is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts" (2 cor. 3:2-3 nlt). like my fellow blogger friend states, i might be the only bible someone ever reads. i don't want to misrepresent.

even when i'm not feeling particularly spiritual, which is often because i'm a human being not an angelic one :-), these posts reminded me that i might be someone's first and/or last point of contact with Christ. i need to make sure i've left them with some good reading material...something good to chew on that will make them want more. this might mean actually giving an answer to someone about the hope i say i have, since this is what we're supposed to be prepared to do anyway, according to 1 peter 3:15. or, it might be just smiling in traffic and letting someone out ahead of me...or showing myself friendly by holding open a door for an oblivious teenager...or telling the weary cashier she's doing a good job...or letting the dad with crying kids at mcdonald's go first...

be reminded you're an open letter..."known and read by everyone" (2 cor. 3:2 ncv). let's not disappoint.

:-)

auld lang syne...annotated :-)

note: somehow i missed posting this...it has been sitting waiting to be published since...well, new year's...oh well, for your reading pleasure, what follows is the t-ls annotated version of the better known part of "auld lang syne:"

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"should old acquaintance be forgot, & never brought to mind?" i'd say forget 'em in 2011 if they were acquaintances who were bad influences & brought you down! if they were acquaintances who are possibly positive friends waiting to happen, look 'em up & forge a connection in 2011!

"should old acquaintance be forgot, & days of old lang syne?" as for the latter part of this rhetorical question, don't forget your days gone by or where you came from. the past is a teacher; learn from it. remember it. don't relive it. revolutionize it. renovate it. restore it. recreate it.

"for auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne." for old times' sake past, & for goodness' sake present, & heaven's sake future, remember you're not an island unto yourself. this line says "we'll." not you. not me. not them. not us. we. you can take the cup of kindness & you will have done exactly that…taken the cup of kindness that could have been, should have been shared. just ask scrooge what taking the cup of kindness meant for him. luckily he had a chance to make it right; you might not, so do it right the first time. be inclusive & open to relationships built on kindness & just watch the year you’ll have in 2011!

happy new year & all the best in 2011 indeed!

"make time"...for what matters least...not what matters most

today, while washing the windows in the church entryway doors, a task i do regularly, i watched as a regular dog walker drove in the church parking lot. i was doing something i do regularly. he was about to do something he does regularly. as i stepped outside to complete my regular task, i observed that there were a couple of other regular dog walkers in the yard.


window washing and dog walking...this combination is what sparked this brief blog entry...i know how often i wash the windows at ccc, and i feel like i have a pretty good idea how often the dog owners exercise their dogs there. these things aren't really things we "make time" for. they are part of our regular routines. i'd hazard a guess that other things happen around these things.


don't get me wrong; we need routine. in fact, this is exactly what this is about. window washing and dog walking are both important. in both cases, someone's depending on the task being done...the guests, the regulars, the dogs...my point is that we never have to "make time" for our habits...the things we do regularly...


ever notice that when u say "i need to make time for ______," it's always something that everything else should be taking a back seat to? i need to make time for prayer, or my family, or the things i sign up for but never stick to...yeah, these kind of things. the kind of things where i'm being counted on to get to it and get it done. the kind of things that all too often take a backseat to all my other habits and priorities. 


i posit that there are things in all of our lives that we should be making time for, so much so, that they become the new regular...that they're no longer the things we make time for and squeeze in last minute if there's time. i bet that they are the things that need to become what everything else revolves around...things like relationships with God and people, for example. i know what i shouldn't have to make time for. i know what should be priority. i know what should come first. i know what should be habitual in my life but has a tendency to become what i give the least amount of my time to in the run of a day.


i'm taking a look at my habits--the things i engage in regularly--and the things that ought to be habitual in my life, but have a tendency to get placed on the back burner. i don't want to get so wrapped up in my important activities that i neglect the things and the people that are at least of tantamount importance, and quite possibly of paramount importance.


the way i see it, taking time to smell the roses is a good thing to do...that very statement implies that it's something you should be making time for. while an idiom, it's an imperative statement. it's not really a suggestion or recommendation; it's a command. just make sure in all your rose smelling, window washing, and dog walking, and all the other habits that fill your day, that other matters don't go by the wayside. make sure you're not just "making time" for what matters so that you can check it off your list as being completed until next time. make time for what's less important, and reserve the best of your time--not what's left of your time--for the habits that matter most.


i dare you.