Would you rather be a tumbleweed or an oak in your influence on others? That’s a question posed by Galen Anderson, who wrote, “A man’s life is like either the tumbleweed or the oak tree. Some people just grow like the weed. They are of no value in their youth, and as the years of life come they break loose and become a blotch on society. They have no useful purpose in life – just drifters. Their loved ones will mourn their loss, but society will not miss them…. Then there are those whose lives are like the oak. They have turned from the frivolity of this life and have invested in things that have genuine worth. Their influence for good will live on in the lives of others after they are gone. Their death is noticed because their lives were spent bettering the nation and the community. They will be missed.”
In the record of the kings of Israel we see both oaks and tumbleweeds. Notice, for example, the impact Asa had on Jehoshaphat. We read that Jehoshaphat “walked in all the ways of his father” (1 Kings 22:43). On the other hand, look at Ahaziah. Scripture tells us that he “walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother counseled him to do wickedly” (2 Chronicles 22:3).
Have you thought recently about the impact of y our life on others? When the people whose lives you influence look at you, what do they observe? Make sure that what they see is not the worthlessness of a tumbleweed but the endurance of an oak tree. – David C. Egner
Let something, Lord, I’ve said or done
Remain when I have traveled on,
That it may be a legacy
To make men glad they walked with me. – Anon.
Your life either sheds light or casts a shadow.
- April 7, 1987, Our Daily Bread
For You 