We make impressions on the lives of others by how we treat them just as our feet make impressions in the sand as we walk in it.  Because the impressions we leave on people’s hearts are not outwardly visible and the impressions we leave in the sand are outwardly visible we often pay more attention to the sand than we do to people.  This is not a good thing, though I must admit I am just as guilty as anyone of not looking for the invisible impressions I make.

Recently someone told me that when they first met me and learned I was clergy they assumed I would probably be boring and only know how to talk about the Bible and other “church stuff”.  After know this person for a few weeks the revelation was shown that I love Superman, crime shows, dogs, and all kinds of interesting things.  This was a reminder to me not to define people solely by their job, because while our job is one descriptor of who we are, there is much more to all of us than our job.

Through our interests we can make impressions on others.  If we define them by only one thing we know about them the impression we will leave generally will not be positive.  If we get to know them and react to the total of their personality and life circumstances we can leave a much better impression.  My goal is for all of us to make the best impressions we can make as we meet new people.