Planting Seeds of Change: The Slow Power of Everyday Influence

Does your life do any good?

Philip Van Doren Stern wrote a book called The Greatest Gift. This little book became the big movie A Wonderful Life.

It describes a discouraged and broke banker named George. He helped people, lending money he did not have, and stepping in while putting his dreams on hold.

Finally, he breaks, and the angel Clarence must show him what the world would be without him.

George is one of those influencers who never see their influence.

Social media corrupted the concept of “influencer.” Now it is a platform for narcissists.

All people are influencers, even if you don’t have a TikTok account. We influence others by living around one another.

We share our lives with others, and a little of us rub off. The residue of the exchange can polish or pollute, but it is there. Our impact remains hidden from view.

I have learned one principle to guide me.

Influence is silent and slow to manifest.

A seed planted in the ground grows out of sight. You don’t see its growth, you only see the produce. Cut open an apple and carve the seeds from the core. Plant the seeds and let them start growing. How many years before the apple juice rolls down your chin?

Someone said, “No farmer can make a seed grow by standing over it and shouting, “GROW?”

Take a teacher. Day after day, she teaches lessons and grades homework. Many days she puts up with inattention and bad behavior. She never sees her students again.

But what happens to that classroom of uninterested, ill-behaved kids? Years later, one becomes a life-changing medical researcher. Another is a best-selling author. Still another decided to go into teaching.

Few of her students return to tell her of the impact, but she made a difference. And what difference do her students make to others?

A seed of a seed of a seed…

I have learned to be more patient. I may never see the effects of things I do (which to me is maddening) but to trust God that the little I do can do much in his hands.

Paul reminds us:

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (Galatians 6:9–10, ESV)

I have to take John Wesley’s advice.

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.

Plant the seed and let God make it grow.