"I thank my God every time I remember you..." (Philippians 1:3)

This morning in church, Pastor Rob challenged us: how would we be remembered? What kind of 'mark' will we leave on this world and the people we've encountered along the way? And I thought about how people see me. Then, I thought back to a class exercise I had done way back in one of my Psych classes at college.

The first day of class, the professor had us put a post-it on our backs and then we would go around the class and have all the other students write their first impressions of us on those notes. Then, the last week of the semester, she had us repeat the same exercise and write what we thought of each other by that point.

As you can see, mine didn't change all that much. (And I had a couple of wise-crackers in that class.) :)

I don't remember now what that exercise was for (sorry Dr. Vance) but now it serves as a reminder of how others view me and how influential I can be, if I want to be.

But, it also serves as an encouragement to me today. And reminds me, that I need to be an encourager to others as well.

You know, the clipping I had placed in my scrapbook next to these two little post-it notes reads:

"I've learned that how people treat me is more a reflection of how they see themselves than how they see me."

~

Still rings true, I think. And, as a Christian, if I were to see myself as the unequivocally loved child of God that I am, how powerful of a reflection would that be to those around me? And what better mark to leave?