Influence to me is coming in contact with a person who changes your life in a significant way. Their presence in your life makes you better, they touch your heart in a kind and gentle way, and they open your mind to new things and new ways of thinking. A person of great influence is like a magnet, people are drawn to them (their spirit), they can feel the anointing on their life, and that causes them to want to be around them. People of influence may come into your life for a short period of time but the impact they make is long-lasting, it almost feels like you encountered an angel. In my own life I would say the people who had the greatest impact on me where people I never planned to meet, we crossed path in such a surprising and unexpected way. This kind of people I am talking about have something special about them, they have an extraordinary gift, they have a depth to them, and they are different in a unique way. What moves me about these people is that they are humble, they are passionate about what they are called to do, and they have a deep insight on life.
Since greatness and the ability to influence people is something I aspire to become, I took some time to study and understand what it truly means to be a person of influence, and how to impact people in a remarkable way. In this blog I share some of the things I learned about the topic.
A person of influence knows what gifts they have been blessed with, and how to use it to touch people’s lives. They understand that their unique gifts sets them apart from the rest of the world, and what they are great at or known for is what they been destined to do. Often times their gifts is what gets them through the difficult moments in life, you can say that about artistic gifts like writing, singing, dancing, I have heard people say they sang when they felt sad, and they felt better afterwards. While some others just wrote when life became tough, and those journal entries turned into a novel or a book. My writing is a way to express myself and it helps me understand the things I am learning about life. It is important that we understand what our gifts are, because they are not just to enrich our life, but also a way to bless and inspire others.
Another important aspect of influence is learning how to stay in your own lane. It is so easy to be distracted by what everyone else is doing, and how they are doing it. Impact comes with focusing on one thing and becoming the best at it, the way in which you use your gifts is going to be what attracts people to you. There are people whose presence alone can help heal people going through deep emotional pain, people whom when they speak their words carry a lot of life, you almost do not remain the same once you encounter such people. There are writings and books written by people who came from humble beginnings, people who faced major crisis that forever changed the course of their life. When you come across their work something inside you changes. Most of these people are not always the richest, the smartest, or the happiest people, but they found ways to channel their pain as a means to enrich other people’s lives. Many of my great insights came from my greatest pain. The season of loneliness can be a time when our creativity is at its peak that is when one gets the most revelation on things. You do not have to be rich to make an impact what it takes is having an open mind and heart, being able to love people as they are, striving to be the best version of yourself, and staying humble.
Making a great impact doesn’t always come with having a big platform or being in the spot light, even though that is nice because it helps you reach more people. You do not have to wait to become a household name or be on television to influence people in a great way, you can begin where you are, with what you have right now. We live in a world which celebrates people who are highly successful and people who make large donations to charity. We also applaud people who travel to third-world countries to offer aid and assistance to the people there, all of these are great act of giving and love. However, the real heroes are the ones we may never see on TV, read in newspapers or magazine, or hear about until they die or not at all. The people who give the most are usually the ones who have the least, they give everything they have, even give of themselves selflessly to help someone else. Those are the kind of people that influence me, people like Mother Theresa.
Influence also comes with being prepared to stand alone, there are many people who want to see change, but there are also others who will fight those changes you’re trying to make. Not everyone will believe in what you stand for, not everyone will support you. Greatness comes at a high price. Sometimes you may have a burning desire to see things change, to help change the way people think or do certain things, but may not have the support or financial help you need to carry it out. In those times you have to rely on the promise or the conviction you had to see the desired change come to pass. If your motive is pure and you’re really trusting God, he will send you the people you need to fulfill it. Do not take your frustration or anger on the people who are present in your life, people who are there for you to encourage and help heal, thinking they are the ones God will raise to support you.
Having an influence on people is being able to stir something deep within their soul. You don’t need to be around someone all the time, to impact their life. Sometimes it takes one meeting, one conversation, one prayer and that forever changes a person. It’s my prayer and hope that at the end of my life, people would have something significant to say about the life I lived, the kind of person I was, and the legacy I left behind. I hope this post inspired you in some way.
