What is affecting you?

I listened to a cool podcast today.  It is actually geared toward teens.  I have been searching for appropriate podcasts to recommend to my teenagers.  They love listening to the things, and there are so many out there with agendas that we may or may not agree with.

And trust me, everyone has an agenda.

I am actually a huge fan of podcasts.

The fact that my children like podcasts is an oxymoron.  Not 2 years ago, they would complain anytime I had Dave Ramsey playing in my car.  They said they hated talk radio.  They said it made them nauseous.

But these 4 kiddos will listen to podcasts as they travel all about the world.

And podcasts are NOTHING like talk radio…

Lol Lol Lol Lol Lol

I have listened to an unknown number of podcasts in the past 3 days.  Actually I have listened to the first 3 minutes of an unknown number of podcasts in the past 3 days.

Anyhow, I found this cute podcast.  It’s edgy.  It is informative and entertaining.  It is from a Christian perspective and made in a way to appeal to young folks.

I dig it and have been listening to various casts from this group.

The most recent episode I listened to was about influence.  They were talking about how everyone (and everything) in your life is having an influence on you.

“Affecting” you to be better.

or

“Infecting” you in a negative way.

I love this so much I can hardly stand it.

Everyone in my life is having an influence on me.

They went on to discuss life choices and decisions (whether good or bad) and the role people play in those decisions.

Most of the discussion centered on the theology, “Bad company corrupts good character.”

And that perhaps the biggest struggle for young people today is the power of influence.  I think this was probably the biggest struggle for me as a young person too (and still something to be on guard about as an adult).

Bad influences are literally everywhere.  At work, school, in the neighborhood, some of us even have bad influences in our families.

Bad company is often the “Y” in the road that leads us down a path we wish we hadn’t traveled.  If you are not familiar with the “Y in the road” it is any situation where you are met with 2 paths:  go to the party or stay home.  Meet the guy or decline.  Drink it or don’t.

I tell my kids that just because they are met with a “Y” in the road and they are tempted to make a bad decision, it doesn’t mean they’ve done anything wrong.  Stop at the “Y” and make the right decision.

Take the right path.

If we can spot, and distance ourselves from “bad compay” we might be able to avoid getting ourselves into many bad situations.

One area that I have had to put up a guard in my life is the “home improvement” department.  I love beautiful houses.  Not big houses, or expensive houses.  Just beautiful ones.  Unfortunately, the home improvement industry is really good at changing looks, styles and constantly showing us that our homes can be more beautiful.

I don’t watch HGTV.  I don’t watch Fixer Upper.  I don’t go on home tours.  I don’t visit Homeramas.  I fall too easily into their trap and become discontent with my home.

Ya know?

Which is so ridiculous, because I have such a nice home.

I was attending a brunch at a friend’s home.  I was there as her friend and the other attendees were mostly neighbors of hers.  The neighborhood was lovely and their homes could eat mine.

I mingled and visited and had a nice time chatting with everyone.  As the morning went on, I found myself sitting at the breakfast buffet sipping coffee listening.  One lady was discussing her master bathroom remodel.  Another stated that she must include a walk-in shower.  Another lady was remodeling her kitchen because it was outdated (her kitchen was 7 years old).

I thought how quickly I could fall into this slippery slope of constantly wanting and never good enough.

It occurred to me that if these were my closest group of friends, how they would influence me.  How they would infect me to desire material things instead of real things.

NOTE:  I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with walk-in showers, kitchen remodels or having a nice home.  I’m just saying that for me, it could become an ‘idol’ and I want to avoid that.  🙂

We can take this information and use it to direct the trajectory of our lives.  We can use this power of influence to our advantage to make us better, stronger, smarter.

When you haven’t seen your sister in a week

Have you ever heard anyone say, “Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future?”

Those closest to us are influencing us most.  This is true in a religious setting, but also in other aspects of life too.

If you want to lift weights and get buff, find muscle-ly people to hang out with.

If you want to gain wisdom, spend time around people who are wise.

If you want to stay married, spend time with couples who stayed together (even though it was hard).

If you want to grow in your faith, be around faithful people (or if you don’t know any join a bible study or a church).

If you want to know more about politics, spend time with people involved in politics.

If you want to get healthier, be around healthy people.

Who we chose matters.

And it is our choice.  We can be intentional about spending time with people who make us better.

This life-truth applies to the other things we let into our lives as well.  What are we watching?  Listening to?  Reading?  Discussing?

As I rolled this over in my brain I was convicted that I want to be influencing others for good.  I want to be affecting lives in a positive way.  I hope that this blog doesn’t make you covet bigger barns or want a kitchen remodel.

I hope you are inspired to eat healthier.

I hope you are motivated to bake bread.

I hope you are armed with recipes you can make and enjoy.

I hope you are convinced that you can live without sugar.  You can avoid storebought bread.  You can eat real food.

And you can be healthy.

Mostly I am so happy you are here reading along.

I suppose this is a great time to let you know that if you aren’t a member – you should be!  There is a membership section to this blog – which is quickly becoming the bulk of this blog.  I am approaching a place where there is more content behind the curtain than publicly available.

What does this mean to you?

Joining is more valuable than ever.  There are more videos, more recipes, more homesteading, and more gardening than ever before.

If you want to make a change, get healthy and eat like a farmer, you should join.  It’s cheap and your pants will thank you.

Here are the details –

XO,

Candi