One who knew Emerson well said, “There is one quality I noticed in him, as more striking than in anyone else — the effect he had upon all who came into his presence. It seemed as if when a man looked into his eyes, he was immediately put at his best and behaved on the highest plane possible.” Emerson’s personality inspired others to their best.
Acts tells us people carried the sick into the streets, hoping Peter’s shadow might fall upon them (Acts 5:15). This healing power was miraculous, yet the incident suggests a broader truth: everybody casts a shadow. Each of us exerts unconscious influence, leaving an impression wherever we go. We make those we touch better, nobler, truer — or we leave them not so good.
It is startling to think every word we speak and every deed we do sets in motion an influence which shall go on forever. We should be sure the impression we make is always good. We are meeting people continually, and every touch upon their lives is for eternity — for beauty or for marring.
George Macdonald tells of a boy looking toward the heavens, wishing to help God paint his clouds and sunsets. God does not need us to paint his clouds, but Macdonald says, “If I can put one touch of rosy sunset into the life of any man or woman, I shall feel I have worked with God.” Clouds vanish, but impressions on a life are forever.
A Paris artist destroyed pictures of his own — representing three years of labor and worth a hundred thousand dollars — because he believed they were not worthy art. We cannot do this with the pictures we paint on people’s lives. Think of a man of seventy, looking back over his life, finding he has been doing harm — leaving blots on characters instead of beauty, influencing others to choose wrong instead of right. Can he undo this evil? No — what he has done must stand.
Think of the irretrievable hurt you did yesterday, or the temptation which caused another to sin. A false word defaming another may leave a stain no apology can wash off. One who leads another to take a first drink, so he becomes a drunkard, can never undo the evil. Pilate spoke truly when he said, “What I have written, I have written.” John 19: 22
No one lives unto himself. You cannot escape entanglements with people. If stranded on an island, your actions might affect only you. But people throng about you, and you are always touching lives, helpfully or hurtfully. Be sure you never give forth influence which will harm another.
A great author said, at the close of his life, he never wrote one sentence he would wish to recall. There can be no higher ideal than to live so we never wish we had not done something.
One person’s kindness can influence others to do likewise. A poor boy, drawing a wagon of broken boards, fell asleep tired and hungry. An old man left his scanty dinner beside him. Others saw: one gave a half dollar, another a hat, a child brought shoes, another a coat. From one kindly act, a wave of influence spread.
One day Jesus prayed alone. His disciples, awed by his manner, asked him to teach them to pray. It was the unconscious influence of his simple act which impressed them.
Horace Bushnell’s sermon on “Unconscious Influence” draws from Peter and John at the empty tomb. John outran Peter but hesitated. Peter went in, unconsciously drawing John after him. So it is in life: the bold make the timid brave. One restless person makes a household nervous; one quiet person makes it easier for all to be at peace.
At an English inn, one young man knelt and prayed silently. His thoughtless companion was impressed. Fifty years later he wrote, “That scene, so unostentatious, aroused my conscience and sent an arrow into my heart.” His conversion led to a life of Christian service. A simple act, without thought of influence, gave a noble life to the world.
Suppose every Christian were faithfully brave in every duty, year after year; think of the tremendous influence. It is easy to stand with a company, but tomorrow you may stand alone — in the office, school, or home, enduring a sneer or resisting wrong.
A student complained to Miss Freeman, a college president, about rudeness. Freeman advised, “Why not be superior to these things?” When challenged, she said, “There is no one living who could insult me.” Her life, like Jesus’, was beyond insult — men mocked him, but could not touch him. Our lives should be so hidden with Christ in God no insult can reach us.
Our influence distills from our life as it is. To have it fragrant, we need only do the things which please Christ. Watkinson says: “Example that has no voice, the commonplace deed that secures no chronicle, the personal magnetism that defies analysis — these are the precious, silent forces making for righteousness. Let us aim at the sincerest, deepest, purest personal life — and we shall bless the world more than we think; we shall, unperceived by ourselves, be enriching it all day long with the ethers of heaven.”
J. R. Miller (1840-1912) was a pastor and former editorial superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication from 1880 to 1911. His works are now in the public domain. This is an edited version of his original.
