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Twenty Second Touch
by Cate Russell-Cole We very rarely realise the impact we have on other people, especially when it seems to be the most insignificant contact. Many years ago, I worked in our church office as a receptionist. One of my duties, typically, was to answer the phones, and on occasion, the Senior Pastor would receive a call from Pastor Laurie. Every department and visitor in a church of over 600 people converged on that small office, and I often found myself trying to work in the middle of a typhoon of busy people, frantic activity, photocopier paper jams and beeping faxes. It was often intense and stressful, but Pastor Laurie's calls always lifted the blanket of stress and put a smile on my face. I was never on the phone with Laurie for more than thirty seconds before I directed his calls through. The main body of our conversation went something like this. "How are you Laurie?" "I'm blessed!" And that's what touched me. I always had to stop and ask how he was, it must have started as a polite gesture, or an automatic one, but I loved to hear his reply. I have never met Laurie in person, have no idea what kind of a person he is, but his positive and strong response lifted me up. I don't believe in "positive confession," but I do believe our attitudes impact the lives of others. Laurie always caused me to stop and think of how blessed I was, as overworked staff rushed in and out, and the paper jammed in the dirtiest recesses of the photocopier for the tenth time that day. As Proverbs states, "life and death are in the power of the tongue." Laurie was obviously full of life. Now, when the storms of life hit hard and I feel God reaching out to lift me up, I always think of Laurie, as he's inspired me to be able to say, "I'm blessed!" I'm now able to look around and see God's provision, and the gold linings in my life. There are clouds, but there are also hopes, joys, achievements and fulfilled dreams. I still think back on Laurie from time to time and his attitude, and the lesson I learnt, has never left me. These days I try and say "God bless you" to people, but one day... one day I may change what I say to them. Something in me is still being pulled towards "I'm blessed!" I hope to be the inspiration to others, that Pastor Laurie is to me. This article by Cate Russell-Cole is under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) Written in Australian English. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |