The older visitors had been to the farm years ago and had many stories to share. Wonderful stories of their childhood and also of my father and grandparents.
After completing a tour of the barn, and as we returned to the farm house, I noticed three teen boys sitting under a cedar tree, looking bored. So I turned aside and struck up a conversation with them. Nice young men. We talked for half an hour and then it was time for lunch.
After we had eaten, one of the older visitors came up to me and said, "I saw you talking to the boys under the tree. What is it in you that enables you to do that? The boys were so interested in what you were saying."
The reason I decided to speak with those teen boys was because I had once been in their situation - bored and waiting for my parents to get done visiting. I knew what they were feeling and wanted to make their visit at least a little more tolerable.
The point of this story is something we ALL need to remember - someone is always watching. Maybe it's a distant relative or maybe it's God Himself. Someone always notices what we say and do.
"Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”
48Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?”
Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” - John 1:47-48
Do we act the same in private as we do in public? When God watches us interacting in the world around us, and He does, what does He see? Does he see a worldly human doing what "the pagans" do? Or does He see one of His children showing compassion for and loving others the way HE would?
There is an old saying, usually reserved for job interviews. It says, "You never have a second chance to make a first impression." That's true. But I think we ALWAYS have a chance to impress God with the decisions we make in life. May we always reflect the truth, honesty, humility and compassion of Jesus. That is how people will know who, and whose, we are.
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