Tuesday, February 2, 2010

influence for good or evil

dear emily,

when he was six or seven, max asked hans if he knew what
a psychic was.  "well, yes, but why are you asking?"

"cuz when i grow up i wanna' BE a psychic."

"you do, do you?"

"yeah, you know like batman and robin.  i want to be robin!"

everyone is a sidekick to someone.  if you are single, then you
probably have a boss, sister, choir director, friend, someone who
takes the lead that you tend to follow.

when our kids were little, they all thought that hans' executive
assistant was the boss, because he was always saying, "i don't
know let me check with r."

when we married, i easily slipped into the roll of my spouse's
sidekick.  some marriages seem to work the other way around.
we had equal input on everything, but he usually made the
final decision.  i am just not very comfortable being the final
authority, the one who pushes the 'red button'.

a wise woman once told me that i had more influence over
hans than any other person.  "did i want to use that influence
for good or evil?"

i have always been impressed that mary treasured everything
in her heart and followed joseph's wise leading to go to
egypt.  she could have said, "what the heck, i 'm the one
with the baby here!"  they left on the impetus of a dream, but
their experience had taught them those dreams tended to be
very helpful.

the winners of evil influence would have to be jezebel and
sapphira, who both got themselves and their husbands killed,
either by intent or negligence. 1 kings 16 and acts 5:1-11

we have to choose to be women of integrity, honor, goodness,
truth, and purity, who are willing to make a stand for those
principles by our example and our objections to lies, deceit,
and causing harm.

love,
lea