I simply went out on my patio to water my one and only plant, my basil plant, which I might add has been flourishing. I have been thoroughly enjoying my caprese salads! But, that one short excursion, was lambasted by a covert watch-party. Argh!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An army of mosquitoes were deployed and took advantage of this lily-white fresh meat! The only good that came out of that short trip outside, was this blog and the wisdom to spray repellent all over me the next time out \u2013 like yesterday morning when I put out my July 4th d\u00e9cor!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the African proverb puts it, \u201cIf you think you\u2019re too small to make a difference, you haven\u2019t spent the night with a mosquito.\u201d The mosquito makes a difference in an annoying way, but the principle is the same. \u201cGo in for the kill!\u201d Just kidding!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What I really mean is rather than being like a mosquito with an insatiable appetite for fresh meat, ours would be with an insatiable appetite for being a do-gooder. Rather than people running from us \u2013 they would be drawn to us because of our hearts of love and kindness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We can set an example for being a voice for truth. It takes just one act of random kindness for someone\u2019s day, and even their future, to change courses. One person can stop a great injustice by standing up for what\u2019s right. One person\u2019s thoughtfulness can save a life. Each person matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m not sure if there is a commander amongst the mosquito squadron, but for us — we can all be leaders of good influence to our family, our community, our church or school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leadership is about influence. Everyone influences someone. Therefore, in a sense, everyone is a leader. We all influence one another in all sorts of ways \u2013 from what to have for lunch and what movies to watch, to what games to play or what restaurant to eat the best food in town!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My life has been influenced by many people \u2013 my parents, teachers, friends, pastors, and family. Just as I have been influenced by others, inevitably what I do and say will influence others for good or bad, too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God chose Israel to be a blessing to the whole world (Genesis 12:3). They were blessed to be a blessing. They were called to use their influence for the good of all nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, God has chosen us, to be a blessing to all people. We are blessed to be a blessing. I am working on maximizing my influence and using it for good. How about you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I simply went out on my patio to water my one and only plant, my basil plant, which I might add has been flourishing. I have been thoroughly enjoying my caprese salads! But, that one short excursion, was lambasted by a covert watch-party. Argh! An army of mosquitoes were deployed and took advantage of this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27183,27181,27182],"tags":[4498,27176,4500,1210,27178,1769,11831,1256,27175,40,5359,219,14775,27180,27179,27177],"class_list":["post-18280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-be-a-blessing","category-influence","category-leadership","tag-act-of-random-kindness","tag-basil-plant","tag-be-a-blessing","tag-blog","tag-carprese-salad","tag-christian","tag-excursion","tag-influence","tag-insatiable","tag-inspiration","tag-leadership","tag-make-a-difference","tag-mosquito","tag-squad","tag-voice-for-truth","tag-watch-party"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18280"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18297,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18280\/revisions\/18297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}